Not So Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man
by Blaque Cell
Summary: Robert Jordan, a Spider Man unlike any you've seen before, must learn to cope with problems both fantastic and realistic as he attempts to learn what exactly he's fighting for. Chapter 21: An excerpt from Tiffany's diary, and a huge revelation!
1. Who Am I?

I don't own Spider-Man, Marvel does. That's the only disclaimer you're gettin' outta me.

  
  


CHAPTER ONE: Who Am I? Not Spider-Man...Not Yet...

  
  


The lights swirled overhead as blood rushed to my head, making me even dizzier than I was before. I could barely distinguish them as streetlights. As I struggled to rise to my feet, I felt a Timberland boot slam into my ribcage. My body fell back to the ground. Above the ringing in my ears, I could hear my assailants laughing and taunting me.

"Come on, bitch, get back up," one of them said.

"What, you think some faggot-ass costume's gonna save you, motherfucker?" another one of them said.

My mask was filled with blood. My vision was getting blurrier by the second. And here I was, surrounded by five people, getting the hell beaten out of me. 

I looked to the side, and there was my mother, on her knees, giving head to some guy for crack. She was the only reason I was even here. And she didn't even notice me. That is, until they took off my mask.

"I don't believe this shit...hey Rhonda, look over here!" one of them yelled to my mom.

She pulled her head back, looked at me, and gasped.

"Rob?" my mother asked, stunned.

"Hey bitch, ain't nobody tell you to stop!" said the guy who was gettin' hooked up by her. She stood up and ran to me, but then one of my attackers grabbed her by the hair and held her back.

"Hey, you want that crack or not?" he asked her.

"But...that's my son..." she pleaded.

"Your son likes to dress up in red and blue pajamas and get his ass kicked. What's more important, that or the drugs that you can't live without?" he asked her.

I fought to focus upon my mother with hate in my eyes. She stared at me with tears in hers.

"I came here to save you...despite everything you did to me..." I said, my voice beginning to break. "Come with me...I'm trying to help you..."

My mother continued staring at me. She looked as if she was contemplating her decision. Then, she turned her back on me, again, and walked back into the alley to continue earning her drugs. My heart felt heavy, heavier than ever, and there was a pain in my heart that I had never felt. That's when I heard a click, and I found myself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

"Looks like you came for nothin', motherfucker," the gunman said.

Before you get excited, I'm going to be an asshole and take you back to the beginning of the story. After all, aren't you the least bit curious how we got to where we are?

Alright then. We're gonna go back twelve years. First, in case you were wondering, my name is Robert Jordan. I was born in Vorhees, NJ, but my family moved to a small town in Jersey called Sicklerville. It was a quiet little place, the kind of place you see on TV where all the neighbors know each other and there's never a sad moment. Still, I enjoyed it very much. Even though I was very young, I can honestly say that this was the best time of my childhood.

My early years were mostly spent in kindergarten, where I would hang with my best friends Sean and Brandon. Mind you, it was the late eighties, so we were pretty much obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I mean, four mutant reptiles who loved pizza and beat up ninjas was pretty damn appealing to us.

One thing I think about often is how we were the best of friends despite our racial differences. Of course, when you're six years old, you don't really think or care about race. I'm black, Sean was Irish, and Brandon was Puerto Rican. It makes me happy when I think of how innocent we were, when we had no idea what racism was. Those were the days when hate simply didn't exist. Those were the days when pain didn't exist. We were just three young Ninja Turtles fans.

Don't get me wrong, though, I do know what pain feels like. I remember the very first time I felt real emotional pain. It was the day Brandon moved away. His father had gotten a new job in Delaware and was preparing to move. The day Brandon moved away, we were all sitting in Sean's backyard. I sat on the swing set while Sean sat in a tree and Brandon sat on the back step. None of us had uttered a word the entire time. Eventually, Sean jumped down from the branch he was in. He reached in his pocket and pulled something out, then he handed it to Brandon. Brandon looked down at his hand.

"This is your Ninja Turtles watch," said Brandon. "You love this watch..."

"I want you to have it. I don't want you to forget me. We're best friends, remember?" Sean replied.

That's when I stood up. I too placed something in Brandon's hand. It was an action figure, of Michelangelo, my favorite of the four turtles.

"Rob, I can't take this..." said Brandon.

"I want you to. If anybody gets to keep it, it should be you," I replied.

That was the entire conversation. As much as we all wanted to cry, we didn't. After all, when you're a six year old boy, you're not supposed to cry, lest you'd be considered a wimp.

That was only the first time I'd feel pain...

Skip ahead one year...

The day my world got turned upside-down seemed like any other day, to be truthful. That is, until I heard yelling coming from outside of my bedroom. I ran to my door and listened. Outside of the room were my father, Jonathan, and my mother, Rhonda.

"Rhonda, keep your voice down. I don't want Rob and Aaron to hear..." my father said. Aaron was my older brother.

"I don't give a shit! All you ever try to do is control my life! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of this whole 'relationship'! I want a divorce!" my mother yelled back.

"Rhonda, please, you're not thinking clearly. I'm trying to tell you..."

"I don't want to hear it!" 

Alright, enough with that. Let's fast forward just a little bit more and you'll see where this is leading...

Enter: Atco, NJ. AKA The Fifth Level of Hell

About a week or so after I heard my mother and father arguing, I found myself living in a completely new house, in a strange neighborhood, with my mother and brother. Got a stop-watch ready? Good. Now start counting down, 'cuz this is where the official worst part of my life begins. How fucked up is it that it hasn't even ended yet?

Remember when I said that I was too young to understand what the differences between races were? Well, that certainly changed. Here in good-old Atco, I heard the word "nigger" for the first time. Boy was that fun. Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but I was the only black kid in a neighborhood full of white people. That would have been completely alright if they all weren't simple-minded racists. There were a couple of families that were generally nice, who welcomed us with open arms and treated us like normal people. Of course, of those two families, one moved away, and one had a sudden change of heart for some strange reason. 

When I wasn't in school, I stayed in my room most of the time. I guess it kinda felt like a sanctuary. It wasn't like the inside of the house was a picnic. My brother, as much as I love him, was having a hard time coping with the divorce, not to mention not having anyone on the block to talk to. Besides from being a black thorn amidst white roses, he was the only person around who was seventeen. I remember when he made a few friends from West Atco, where the blacks lived. I wished to God that he hadn't met them, though.

These guys were the crowd that your mother warned you not to hang with. Let's be blunt: they were drug dealers. And, like a lamb to the slaughter, my brother decided to go with the flow of the group and sell drugs, too. Trust me, it is not good for one's psyche to wake up at three in the morning to the sound of policemen arresting your brother. Lots of cursing, violence, and the sound of handcuffs clicking can really warp your mind if you hear it enough at the age of seven.

Oh, but the story doesn't end there, my friends. Now we get to the real problem...

Rhonda, dear old Mom. Maybe she was stressed out from the divorce. Not that she had anybody to blame but herself. She left my dad because she got into drugs and he didn't, basically. She pretty much qualified as an addict. I tell you, a child's mind can get seriously warped when his babysitters consist of drug dealers, abusers, alcoholics, and prostitutes. Of course, Mom was never home, and neither was Aaron, and half the time I wouldn't even have a babysitter. I spent most of my childhood alone. And when Mom was home, she was usually asleep, or high, or fuckin' some guy so she could get a hit, or beating the living hell out of me because she couldn't come up with a better way to deal with her problems.

Then, one day, she just vanished. Yup, just like that. I had no idea where she was, and Aaron was staying with friends in West Atco. I was alone for several hours, waiting for my mom to come home, but she never did. Eventually I called my father, and he came to get me. 

My mom called me about a month later, saying that she was sorry for what she had done and that she was staying with a friend. I later found out that she had gotten high, hadn't payed for it, and was hiding from the dealer, who was planning on killing both her and myself if he hadn't gotten the money. She begged my father to let her have me, but he refused. There were a bunch of custody battles, which my father won of course. And so, I've been living with him for the past several years. Only occasionally did I speak to my mother.

Alright, we can move forward now. Ready for this?

Here we are. I'm eighteen years old now, and I've relocated. Welcome to Philadelphia, PA, one of the greatest cities in the world (I'm not being sarcastic this time). Well, I've been living with my father for quite some time now. He's a cool dude, although he can get kinda annoying with his constant lectures about the importance of education. Honestly, I pulled in pretty good grades in middle school (I graduated as valedictorian of my class) and then fucked it all up the second I hit high school. Honestly, I don't really care anymore. As long as I graduate, I'm happy. Who needs to go above and beyond, right?

I must tell you now, I am the world's biggest Eminem fan. In my spare time, I freestyle as well as write songs. I want to get signed to Shady Aftermath, so I can rap with the G Unit, 50 Cent, Obie Trice, and of course my idol, Eminem. I see what Em has been through, how his childhood was so much like mine, and how he achieved his goals, and it's the one inspiration that I have in this world. Well, okay, I have two.

The other is my best friend in the whole world. Angel, my closest friend, is probably the reason I'm still alive. I met her when I was sixteen, and when I was going through some trials and tribulations. She was there for me, always easy to talk to, and always willing to give advice. To be honest, I'd have to say that I love Angel. I consider her my sister. After awhile, I began to develop even deeper feelings for her, but I never told her. I mean, what if we had a relationship and it didn't work? Then the friendship would suffer, right?

Then there was my other best friend, Brian. This man was the world's biggest hustler. He constantly downloaded music onto his computer, and would sell mix CD's at five dollars a pop. He spent his entire high school career asking random people, "Need a CD? Only five dollars!" In fact, the only reason he made it past freshman year was because he made a CD for his math teacher. Lucky bastard...

Well, high school is okay. Hell, I'm in my senior year. Only a few months until graduation. All I'm really thinking about right now is getting the hell out of school. It's been a few years since I last spoke to my mother, and Aaron was arrested a few months ago. This was the day of his sentencing. I was home, after school, and on the phone with Angel. I heard a click, and told her to hold on. On the other line was my grandmother on my mother's side.

"Hello?" I said.

"Rob?" 

"Hi, Grandmom. What's wrong?"

"I just got a call from your brother today," she said.

"You did? What did he say?"

"Well, you know his sentencing was today..."

"Yeah?"

"...fifteen years..."

I couldn't believe my ears. Aaron was going to be gone for another fifteen years of my life. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. It seemed like every time my life seemed to be even remotely happy, something else always happened to bring it all back to square one. Either I would lose someone, or something would happen. 

"Are you alright, Rob?" my grandmother asked.

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine...I gotta go..." I said before clicking back over. "Angel?"

"Rob? What's the matter?" asked Angel.

"Let me call you back..."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just...I'll call you later..."

I hung up the phone and slowly walked out of my house. I found myself going to 40th and Market, where I had a friend who was in...the business. He saw me and shook my hand. Honestly, I don't know his name and he doesn't know mine, but he's a good business associate.

"Damn, dog, you look like you just licked some rotten pussy," he said.

I placed a twenty dollar bill in his hand and looked him straight in the eye.

"Just give me my motherfuckin' weed, alright?" I said to him.

"Damn, it ain't gotta be all that..." he placed the stuff in my hand and looked me in the eye. "You alright, dog?"

"Chillin'. Thank you," I replied before walking away.

I found myself in an alley, cracking and rolling the weed. Eventually I lit it and proceeded to get high and stay that way for a couple of hours. Yes, my mother is an addict, my brother had just been convicted for selling the shit, and I was sitting here smoking weed myself. I didn't care. Maybe you think it's stupid, but when you've been through shit in your life, there just don't seem to be many alternatives. This is how I dealt with my pain, alright?

I was high as a kite by the time the dub was gone. After my senses had become properly buzzed, I found myself wandering around, looking for something to eat. If you haven't smoked weed before, let me tell you: it is not wise to smoke a whole dub to yourself. In case you were wondering, a dub is twenty dollars worth of weed, which is a lot, trust me. If you're gonna smoke it, which I don't recommend, then at the very least, share it with somebody. I made the mistake of smoking the dub to myself, and now I was considerably buzzed. I just wandered and wandered until I found a doorway inside of an alley. I was feeling pretty sick and felt like I was going to throw up. Scratch that, I did throw up...a lot. Even after my lunch had been splattered all over the ground and wall, I still hadn't sobered up. Instinctively I opened the door and walked inside of the building, without even knowing where the hell I was going. 

At first, I seemed to be inside of an ordinary abandoned building, but as I walked forward, the building interior seemed to become a little more sophisticated. Well, not in the truest sense of the word. It was more like a mad scientist's lab or something. Eventually I heard talking, and then I heard yelling. Being the idiot that I am, and add to that the fact that I was high from twenty bucks worth of weed, I kept moving forward. I kept moving on and on until...

I saw several flashes of light coming from ahead of me. I peered around the corner to see what was going on. There was a surgical table that was propped up, and there was a guy strapped to it. There were several tubes connected to his arms and legs, with blue liquid running through each of them. There were also wires connected to his neck, wrists, and heart. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, and every so often a white flash would emit from his body. I was busy staring at the whole scene, wondering if I was really seeing this happen, or if the weed was playing tricks on me. If the latter was true, then it was really fucking with me now...

I felt something grip my throat from behind, turn me around, lift me, and slam me into a wall. I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at what had grabbed me. My first reaction was to scream. Before you even laugh, let me tell you that the thing that grabbed me was a human-sized lizard. Lie and say that you wouldn't be scared too.

By now I thought I had lost my mind. What the hell had I just been smoking? Some giant lizard-thing was holding me eight feet in the air by my throat. It moved along swiftly while still holding me with one hand. I found myself kicking the thing in its head, but it didn't seem to notice. Eventually, it stopped in a small room. I drew my attention away from the lizard to a man who was sitting in a chair. The man was tall, which brown hair, and a white lab coat.

"What have we here?" the man asked.

"An intruder," the lizard replied.

If I wasn't freaked out enough that an eight foot tall lizard had me by the throat, imagine how I reacted when I realized that the thing could talk, too.

"You know how we handle those, don't you?" the man said.

"Yesss, sssir," the lizard replied.

I found myself being carried away yet again, except this time I found myself in a room that was similar to the first room I had scene, with the guy strapped to the table and getting electrocuted. The lizard slammed me down on the table. I found myself gasping for breath as the lizard tightened straps around my arms and legs. I stared up at it, trying to comprehend just what the hell was going on. The lizard stepped back, and the guy in the lab coat stepped into the room.

"How much did he see?" the guy in the coat asked the lizard.

"He sssaw the Electro project," the lizard replied.

"I see...leave us," the guy commanded.

"Yesss, sssir," the lizard said before leaving.

I was at a loss for words. I thought that this was all just some big nightmare. The guy in the coat started cleaning some needles and syringes.

"The gentleman who was being electrocuted was an intruder too, you know," the guy in the coat said.

"What...what the hell is this?" I managed to stammer.

"Of course, I don't consider him an intruder. No, more like...a volunteer," he said, ignoring me. "Just like you..."

"A volunteer for what?" I asked.

"Well, I wouldn't be much of a mad scientist if I told you all my plans, now would I? Oh well, it's fun, so I'll tell you anyway. First, I should introduce myself. My name is Norman Osborn. I consider myself to be a very good scientist, although some people don't seem to agree with my methods. You see, I used to work for the U.S. military. As you undoubtably know, our country has engaged in a war with Iraq. Well, the military needed something of an edge in the war. They wanted to create a type of super soldier to fight our war. A...Captain America, if you will. Well, it was just a pipe dream at first, but I sought to make it a reality. My very first experiment was the Lizard, who you've already met. He was my loyal lab assistant Dr. Mendell Stromm. However, those fools in the government deemed my experiments to be inhumane and called for my arrest. Mendell and I fled, but I refused to give up my experiments. I will create the ultimate super soldier, one way or another."

Okay, try to bear with me. It was hard enough trying to comprehend that there was a mad scientist looming over me, who had created a giant lizard, and was probably planning on doing some unspeakable evil to me, but let's not forget that I was also very high, so all of this was very hard for me to comprehend. I was still in shock from the whole experience.

"Of course, some of my experiments didn't turn out so well. Yes, the Lizard was a success, but you should have seen my Sandman and Scorpion projects. Now those simply did not work. My test subject didn't survive the Scorpion process, while my subject for the Sandman test...well...I tried to infuse sand into his DNA, and his body lost its composition and fell apart...back to the drawing board, I suppose. Right now I'm trying to see what I can do when I combine human blood, electricity, and the right combination of chemicals."

I watched as Osborn continued gathering supplies. Eventually I saw him pull a vial from a cabinet and hold it up. It contained a liquid that was like a dark mixture of red and blue.

"What's that?" I managed to ask.

"This is my latest experiment. It's made from a mixure of very rare chemicals, along with some very important ingredients. Spider's venom..."

I gulped at the sound of the spider's venom.

"In here is the venom of a common house spider, tarantula, jumping spider, funnel web spider, and black widow, as well as some DNA samples from each of these creatures. Along with the chemicals, it can create quite a powerful toxin. But I theorize that it can also be used quite practically if it were to be mixed with human DNA. Of course, there's only one way to find out..."

Osborn tied a rubber cord over my arm to make the vein pop up, and then he began to wipe alcohol over my arm. I tried to fight against the straps that held me down, but it was no use. Eventually he drained the liquid into the needle and aimed it.

"Now stay still. This won't hurt me a bit..." said Osborn.

All I could think to do was scream at the top of my lungs. Of course, that was no good. I mean, when is it any good? I felt the needle plunge into my arm, and the hot liquid flowed into it. The liquid burned like acid inside of me. I screamed even louder for seemingly hours. And then, eventually, my screaming slowed down, my eyes got heavy, and everything went black...

*********

"Such a shame the Arachnid project didn't work...oh well, looks like I'll just have to try again. Mendell, see that you dispose of him well."

"Yesss, sssir..."

These are the last words that I heard before I found my body being tossed into a dumpster. It took seemingly hours, although it was probably more like twenty minutes, for me to realize what was going on. I must have been out for hours, because it was daytime when I had entered the building, and it was nighttime now. It took a very long time for me to register in my mind everything that had happened. All I knew was that I was in a lot of pain and that I couldn't move. That, and I heard a very loud sound. It sounded like a trash compactor.

Okay, it was a trash compactor. And I was the trash to be compacted.

The dumpster I was in had been lifted up, and I found myself being dumped into the back of the truck. I was in way too much pain to move or even react. That is, until the compactor had activated, and I was about to be crushed. In my mind's eye, I could see an image of myself being crushed amongst the garbage. Somehow, without even thinking about it, I tore away at all of the garbage bags above me and leapt out of the back of the truck just as the compactor had finished destroying all of the contents within.

So after all of this, what do you think had me freaked out the most? Was it the traumatic realization that I wouldn't see my brother for another fifteen years? Was it that I had smoked twenty dollars worth of weed? Was it that I saw a guy getting electrocuted, a giant talking lizard, a mad scientist, had spider venom and DNA and chemicals injected into my bloodstream, and that I had nearly been crushed and saw an image of it happening in my head? Well, you could say it was all of those things.

But what really freaked me out was that I was now clinging to the side of a nearby building...

  
  


END OF CHAPTER ONE


	2. Does Whatever A Spider Can

CHAPTER TWO: Does Whatever A Spider Can

  
  


When we last left our hero...myself...I was dangling from a wall after narrowly avoiding being crushed by a trash compactor. Anyway, here I was, clinging to the side of a building, staring down at the trash truck, and barely able to comprehend what had just happened. I tried to pull my hand away from the wall, but it was stuck to it like fly paper. I screamed as I pulled harder and harder, but still nothing happened. My first reaction was to yell for help. Of course, my yelling didn't result in anything good happening. No actual human beings came to my aid. I mean, let's be realistic, I'm in the heart of West Philly, nobody gives a shit about anybody else here. That's not to say that nobody was alerted by my yelling. There was somebody...well, something...

The Lizard came back...

I looked down at the ground, and there was the Lizard, staring up at me with his glowing red eyes. My jaw was agape with fear, but I also noticed that he had a shocked look on his face as well. Was he shocked that I was still alive, or that I was clinging to a building with my hands and feet. Eventually his expression changed from shock to determination, and he started walking toward me. Even as I was trying to register the notion that I was several feet in the air, I subconsciously thought that I was safe from the creature's wrath as long as I was up there. 

And, like most instincts that I have, this was wrong...The Lizard creature crouched for a second and then leapt onto the wall that I was on. I stared down into his fiery red eyes and felt a twinge of fear in my spine. My instincts told me to evade him, to escape by any means necessary. They told me to climb. And, the next thing I knew, I was climbing. I climbed to the roof of the building, but just as my hand reached the threshold, the Lizard grabbed me by the ankle. I turned and kicked him repeatedly in between the eyes with the Timberland boot on my foot, and after I had kicked him five times, the Lizard's grip had loosened. I quickly hoisted myself onto the rooftop and took off running.

Even as I was five feet away from the edge of the roof, my instincts told me to jump. So, after building momentum and reaching the edge, I leapt through the air and landed on the roof of another building. I hit the ground running and then leapt again. Once again, I landed on the next building and kept moving. There was another building, but it was a much farther jump. I leapt without thinking, and then as I was halfway through the air, I began to wonder if I would make it. The fact that a shadow had just loomed over me was not reassuring.

I craned my neck around and saw that the Lizard was also in midair, floating above me. The monster grabbed me by the throat in the air and began to strangle me. Then he tossed me downward. My body was in a freefall, and the ground seemed to be rushing toward me faster and faster. I saw a blur of green streak past me, and then I realized that the Lizard had hit the ground first and was waiting for me to land. I was going to fall right into its clutches, and there was nothing I could do. All I did was reach my hand out in the vain hopes that I would grab something. After that, I felt a sharp pain in my right wrist, as if something had just shot out from inside of it and fired itself out. The next thing I knew, I was swinging...

My body swung in an arc above the Lizard's head, and I found myself moving upward. Eventually, I flew into the side of a building with a shattering impact. I tried to regain my bearings after slamming into the wall, and I climbed to the roof and stared down at the ground. The Lizard was gone, most likely to avoid getting spotted by any passers-by. I still couldn't believe what was happening, and it had all happened so quickly. As if I wasn't freaked out enough by everything that had just happened, imagine my horror when I noticed the sticky white and silver substance dangling from my wrist. I rose my hand and stared at whatever it was that was hanging from my arm.

"What the fuck is this?!" I screamed out loud.

I was trembling, and the thing in my arm was not going away. I shook my arm frantically, trying to shake the sticky stuff loose. Eventually it did fall from my arm, and when I stared at my wrist, I saw a small slit in it. Blood was slowly leaking from it, along with small traces of the white substance. Suddenly my left arm began to itch. I began scratching my wrist, but the itching only got worse. Eventually the itching turned to pain. The pain intensified with each passing moment, until I finally felt the sharp stabbing pain that I had felt in my right wrist. My left arm shot out involuntarily, and the white and silvery strand fired out of it. After that, my right arm shot in another direction, and another strand came out. My arms pumped out the white stuff like pistons. They just kept pumping despite my protests. I tried to control the movement of my arms, but they continued to move without mental command. The white substance fired into every direction, until eventually my arms simply went numb. My limp body hit the roof, and I lay there panting for several minutes. By the time I had finally opened my eyes and looked up, all I could see was a gigantic spider web.

********

The front door of my house swung open, and I stumbled into it. My body lay in the doorway for an unknown amount of time. Eventually I was able to open my eyes and walk into the house. I made my way upstairs and fell onto my bed. My head was spinning, my bones ached, and the urge to vomit was getting stronger and stronger. At one point, I heard this horrible ringing noise. It was the most horrible sound I had ever heard in my entire life. I clutched my head with both hands, struggling to block out the noise in my head. And that's when I realized it was the phone. Slowly I reached for the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?" I managed to say.

"Rob, where have you been?" It was Angel.

"Uh...around..."

"Have you been smoking again?"

"Yeah..." I didn't have the mental capacity to make up a lie.

"Is that all?"

"Uh...yeah, that's it..." I lied. For some reason, I neglected to tell her about what else had happened. Maybe I was too tired, or maybe I just didn't want her to know. I'm not really sure.

"You never did tell me why you got off the phone earlier. I was worried. I've been calling ever since you hung up, but you weren't home."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"12:45."

I had no idea it had gotten that late. Luckily, my father was on a business trip and wouldn't be returning for another couple of days. He wouldn't be wondering why I had gotten home so late. 

"So, when are you gonna tell me the real reason you came home so late?" asked Angel.

I love Angel, believe me, but she has this almost wife-like ability to nag, and I did not need the irritation at the moment.

"Look, I told you, now let me sleep," I said.

"Alright, fine, you'll tell me sooner or later. You just better be in school tomorrow," said Angel.

"Fine, I'll talk to you later..."

I hung up the phone and dug my head into my pillow. It took all of one second for me to fall asleep. It didn't take very long for me to start dreaming. And I dreamt of a lot of things...

I dreamt of Norman Osborn, and the Lizard...

I dreamt of the giant spider web...

I dreamt of my mother, and my brother, and my father, and Angel...

All of the people I cared about were ensnared in a giant web, and I was in the very center of it. A spider was crawling very slowly across the web, as if he was enjoying the fact that he was stalking helpless pray. Eventually he came to me. I stared deep into all six of his eyes, and I could see my reflection in it. And then...

I found myself hanging from the ceiling of my bedroom. By now I was awake, and for some reason I was upside-down, over my bed. The second I realized where I was, I fell off of the ceiling and crashed into the bed. I lay there in the bed panting for a very long time. The first thing I noticed was that the sun was out. I turned my head to the side to look at the clock. It read "3:50". I shot up immediately and stared at the clock, rubbing my eyes to try and make sure I wasn't seeing things. I had slept all through school, and spent quite possibly half of the time on the ceiling of my bedroom. Oh well, I thought, wasn't like I wanted to go that badly anyway. 

I rose from the bed and headed straight to the bathroom for a long overdue draining. Okay, ladies, you may not know about this, but my fellas, you should understand this. Did you ever have to pee really, really badly, like your bladder is going to explode, and you make it to the bathroom, standing over the toilet, and just as you're about to relieve yourself, just when the urine gets right there to where it's finally ready to escape, and then the phone rings and you have to force yourself to stop? Doesn't that shit hurt? Well damn it, that's what happened to me. I angrily walked back to my room and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Why weren't you in school today?" asked Angel.

"Not right now, Angel..." I said.

"I'm your friend, Rob, so I have no choice but to nag you. So, why didn't you come to school?"

"I just didn't feel like it..."

"Sure, Rob. Wait, somebody wants to talk to you."

I heard Angel hand the phone to somebody, and then I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey nigga, why didn't you come to school today?" It was Brian, aka Superhustler.

"I just got done having this conversation with Angel, man," I replied.

"Well listen, we're on our way to your house," said Brian.

"Says who?" I exclaimed. I was in no condition to be having company. Hell, I was still getting over the shock of the previous day.

"You're neglecting your friends, Rob, so we gotta make you suffer. We'll be there soon."

"Alright, whatever."

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to need a CD would you, 'cuz I..."

I hung up the phone immediately and walked back to the bathroom to get back to business. After finally relieving myself and washing, I got dressed in a red muscle shirt and blue sweat pants with red stripes down the sides. About twenty minutes later, my friends had arrived. We found ourselves sitting in my kitchen, eating whatever we could get our hands on and drinking Kool-Aid. I was eating a lot. I don't know what it was, but I was really hungry, like even more than the munchies that weed will give you. Angel and Brian just stared at me as I ate.

"What?" I asked them.

"Have you eaten in the last twenty-four hours?" asked Brian.

"No," I replied. Hell, it was true. I hadn't eaten in the last day. "So what happened in school today?"

"Well, you missed Ms. Morales's test, and you have to turn in a paper about the book we read in Ms. Grayson's class by next Friday," said Angel.

"Bullshit, and more bullshit. Did anything relevant happen in school today?" I asked as I kept eating.

"Yeah. Some kid in tenth grade went missing. He's been missing for a couple of days, but they just announced it today," said Brian.

"Who?" I asked.

"His name's Jason. Jason Thompson. His parents were at the school today and asking if anybody may have known where he was," said Angel.

I wasn't particularly sure who that was. This may sound mean, but when you're a senior, you really don't know or care who the sophomores in the school are. Still, it was a shame.

"That's fucked up," I replied.

"So what were you doing all day? Working out?" asked Angel.

"No, just chillin'," I replied.

"Well, you sure look like you've been working out," Angel said, indicating my arm.

Looking down at my arm, I could see what she was talking about. My arm, which had originally been of an average size, was now much more defined. It was more muscular, but not bulky. Rather, it was lean, like a gymnast would have.

"Dog, you haven't been usin' steroids, have you?" asked Brian.

"I suppose you want to sell me that, too?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Hey, if it sells, it sells," Brian said as he laughed.

I spent the next few hours relaxing with Brian and Angel. It was about 9 P.M. when they decided to go home. I walked them around to the corner to catch the trolley home. After they both got on it, I began walking back to my house. Having my friends with me made me feel better. As I walked, I started to feel this very small tingling in the back of my neck. As I drew closer to my home, the buzzing became stronger and stronger. When I finally made it to the house, my ears were ringing. I instinctively leapt into the air, and I heard something slam into the ground behind me. I landed, turned, and saw what had tried to attack me.

"Jordan, you mussst come with me," the Lizard said.

I stood there, struggling to comprehend that this thing was still here, and was now standing in front of my house.

"You're a gigantic lizard and a stalker. That's gotta be embarrassing on two accounts," I said. I was running off at the mouth, but that was only by instinct. In reality I was scared out of my mind.

"Enough talk. Come with me now," The Lizard said.

"Don't think so," I said.

The Lizard stopped talking and leapt toward me. I held out my right arm and wished that the silvery strand that had been emitting from my hands earlier would come out now and blind him. And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what happened. The difference was, this time it didn't hurt. The white and silver glob fired right into the Lizard's face and engulfed it. I backed away and tried to figure out what I was going to do next. The monster pulled and pulled and eventually tore the webbing from its face. I held out my left arm and tried to will another web from it, but this time nothing came out. The Lizard took the advantage by grabbing my extended arm and hurling me into a nearby car. My body crashed into the car and the back of my head broke one of the side windows. As my body slumped to the ground, the creature advanced upon me. He grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up to his level. That's when I fired webbing from both arms into his face. By straining a muscle in my forearm, I was able to fire the webbing at will. I was glad that I had learned that little ability, because it was stopping the monster from killing me. Still, the Lizard was angry, and he tossed me away like garbage. I flew away and bounced on the ground repeatedly before finally landing on my feet.

"Missster Osssborn will be quite impresssed with your abilitiesss, Jordan," the Lizard said.

"Yeah? Well thanksss for the compliment, missster," I said, mocking him.

The Lizard lunged at me once again. I jumped backwards to avoid him and found myself landing about six feet backwards on top of a car. I was growing tired of running and evading, and what the hell was I going to do if one of my neighbors saw me? I saw the Lizard pounce once again, and this time I wasn't going to run. I crouched, cocked my fist back, and shot it in an uppercut towards his jugular. Saliva flew out of the monster's mouth as it flew back and landed with a few bounces on the ground. That's when I took the opportunity to retreat.

I found myself moving in no direction in particular. My only goal was to escape, and going home was not an option at this point. By the time I had stopped running, I had found myself clinging to a wall in an alley. I was panting from all of the fighting and running, but I wasn't nearly as exhausted as one would expect. I was more mentally tired than anything. This was real life, not some comic book, and this kind of shit was not easy to get a grasp on. I lay back against the wall, just trying to figure out what was going on. I needed to think for a minute about everything that was happening. What I really needed was peace and quiet.

But then, that's when I heard the scream...

  
  


END OF CHAPTER TWO


	3. The Decision

CHAPTER THREE: The Decision

  
  


Where were we? Oh yes, the scream. Like I said, I heard somebody scream just as I was trying to sort together the pile of shit that had become my life for the last few days.

"Somebody, please help me!" a female screamed.

I looked downward, just to see what was going on. I heard the voice coming closer to me, and then I could see who it came from. It was a girl, who couldn't have been too much younger than me. Maybe about fifteen or sixteen. I admit, at first I was going to ignore her. After all, I had my own problems to deal with. But then I glanced down at her, and I could see that she was crying. People on the street were walking right past her while she begged for help. Slowly, I slid down the wall while staying in the shadows.

"Hey," I called to her. "What's wrong?"

The girl jumped at the sound of my voice, and then she began walking toward me.

"Stay where you are," I said. She immediately stopped in her tracks. "What's the problem?"

"My...my mother...her boyfriend is beating her and...I'm afraid he's going to kill her...she's a drug addict and she owes him money and..." the girl said through tears. I could see that the girl had a fresh black eye herself.

"Say no more." The word "drug" hit a nerve. As you know, I feel pretty strongly about the subject. "Where is your mother now?" I asked.

"She's in the apartment buildings down the street, Building 4, Apartment 3B," the girl replied.

"What's your name?"

"Tiffany."

"Alright, Tiffany, I want you to go somewhere safe. Go to a friend's house or something, and call the cops. I'll take care of the rest."

"But...who are you?"

"Somebody who knows what abuse feels like. Get moving."

Tiffany eventually nodded and ran off. As for me, I got moving myself. I moved through the alleys and ran to the apartment, and then I ran inside of the building. Running upstairs, I found Apartment 3B. From outside of the door, I could hear screaming and the sound of flesh meeting flesh in a harsh blow. The door was locked, so I kicked it in. The first thing I saw was a woman on the floor with several bruises and cuts on her face. There was a large man standing over her. His head was bald, and he had a goatee. The guy easily weighed three-hundred pounds of pure muscle. I had recognized him the second I saw him. He was a known enforcer for a local gang. His specialty was to literally break a person's face, as well as occasionally their ribcage. When he did the latter, he would use his own head to do it. Nobody even knew his real name, but on the street, he was known as Rhino.

"Who the fuck are you?" asked Rhino.

I didn't answer immediately. It had just occurred to me that I was a damned fool for running into such a situation without even thinking about it. 

"You deaf or somethin'? Who the hell are you?" he asked again.

"Let her go," I said.

Rhino stared at me in awe for a moment, and then he started laughing.

"What the hell are you supposed to be, some kind of hero?"

I didn't have a response for him. I just wanted to make him pay for what he had done. It was people like him who had caused my mother to become what she was. It was people like him who had taken away my childhood.

"I'll only warn you once more," I warned.

Rhino laughed again. In a split second, he had leapt across the room and had implanted his fist in my jaw. I fell backwards and found myself laying outside of the apartment door. I could taste blood in my mouth. It didn't help that Rhino had just grabbed me by my throat and tossed me back into the apartment. I landed on my hands and knees, and I could see Rhino advancing upon me again. I felt the buzz in my neck again, and I raised my hand in time to block a punch that would have introduced my head to the floor. Rhino stared at me in shock as I squeezed his fist. I then retaliated with a haymaker that knocked him out of the apartment and into the wall on the other side of the hall. Rhino slowly rose to his feet and prepared to attack me again. He crouched, lowered his head, and charged. For a man his size, he could move pretty quickly, but I was faster this time. I leapt above him as he charged, landed on one hand, and fired a web at his ankle with the other hand. Then I flipped to my feet and pulled on the webline as I moved. Rhino's body fell forward, and his head put a hole in the wall. I watched him slowly rise to his feet. He lowered his head and prepared to ram me again. This time, however, I fired webbing from both hands, pinning him to the wall. Rhino struggled against the webs as I approached him and smiled.

"What the hell is this? What the hell are you?" exclaimed Rhino.

I was feeling pretty good about myself at the moment, so I wanted to say something that was pretty dramatic, like in the movies. At the same time, I wasn't about to tell him my real name, so I just said the first thing that popped into my head.

"I'm Spider-Man," I replied.

"You're a dead motherfucker! You hear me? I'm gonna fuckin' kill you!" Rhino screamed.

"Sure you are. When you can manage to get yourself off of that wall, then we'll see if there's any truth to that statement," I replied.

In the distance I could hear sirens approaching. Smiling, I leapt to the windowsill and turned back to the woman inside. 

"You'll be alright now, miss. Oh, and Rhino? Don't drop the soap, dog."

I could hear Rhino spitting obscenities at me as I slid down the exterior wall. About a minute later, I could see police cars approaching the building. I walked through the shadows and made my way home.

********

Okay, I think it's safe to skip ahead a few hours. Unless, that is, you want to hear about me sleeping. You don't want to hear about me sleeping, do you? Didn't think so. Okay, here we go. It's the next day, and this time I actually took my ass to school. There was a lot of buzz going around the school. Everybody was talking about how some guy had taken down the legendary Rhino. It was unbelievable to a lot of people. Of course, I just acted as if I didn't know it had happened. Still, it made me feel good that I was able to accomplish such a feat. 

But not all of the hype was good. Rhino was pretty influential in the drug trade, and he had contacts who actually attended the school. See, it was lunchtime, and I was eating with and talking to Angel and Brian. At one point, we heard a lot of commotion, and we saw a crowd gathering. That's when I heard somebody getting slapped. I stood up to see what was going on. Working my way through the crowd, I managed to see three guys surrounding one girl. The girl was on the ground and holding her face. One of the guys kicked her in the side.

"Get up, bitch. You gotta pay for what you did," the guy said.

The guy's name was Mark. He, along with his two partners, Rashawn and Steve, were known to work under Rhino. That's when I realized who the girl was.

"Tiffany?" I asked myself out loud.

It was the girl who I had seen the previous night. That's when it had dawned upon me that they probably held her responsible for what had happened. I felt guilty immediately for what was going on. Tiffany rose to her feet and wiped a tear from her eye.

"I didn't do anything to him! He was beating my mom!" Tiffany argued.

Mark retaliated by punching her with a closed fist.

"Enough!" I yelled as I fought my way out of the crowd. 

"Stay out of this, bitch," Mark said to me.

"Three of you motherfuckers are beatin' on one girl, but you call me a bitch?" I replied.

"You know what? I'm sick of bein' nice. Fuck him up," Mark commanded to his partners.

Steve and Rashawn each drew knives and advanced upon me. Not that I was really intimidated or anything. Just as I prepared to attack, I could see three school police officers out of the corner of my eye. They each rushed Mark, Steve, and Rashawn. I just stood back and watched as they were each cuffed and hauled away. They were all busy yelling threats to both Tiffany and myself as they were taken away. I turned to see if Tiffany was alright, but she was already on her way out of the lunchroom. One of the officers came back to me and asked if I was alright, and I nodded in the affirmative. Angel and Brian approached me after that.

"What the hell were you thinking? Don't you know who they are?" said Brian.

"If they had been jumpin' you, I wouldn't just stand back and watch," I replied.

"Yeah, but they could have killed you. You don't even know who that girl is, and you were ready to give your life for her?"

"They wouldn't have killed me."

"How do you know that?"

I thought for a second, and then I just smiled.

"I just know."

"Know what? You're crazier than I am. You need to lay off of the weed."

"Never."

Brian shook his head and walked away. I glanced at Angel, who had a concerned look on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Rob, are you feeling okay?" asked Angel.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" 

"Ever since the other day, you've been acting differently. You didn't come to school for no reason, you almost got yourself killed a minute ago, and you barely even talk to me any more."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"And you've been smoking more. Don't think I didn't notice."

I didn't have a reply for her. I just turned my eyes away from hers.

"Aren't we supposed to be best friends, Rob? You can tell me anything. You know that, right?" asked Angel.

"Yeah..." I said back.

"So, what's wrong?"

"...You wouldn't understand..."

With that, I walked out of the lunchroom and down the hall. I felt confused. I felt helpless. What was it that was bothering me? I thought that I had done the right thing the previous night, but it had seemed like all I did was make things worse. That's why I didn't want to get involved in the first place. I continued walking and thinking until I heard a noise. Around the corner at the end of the hall, I could hear somebody crying. I walked around the corner, and there was Tiffany, sitting on the floor with her hands over her face. I stood there, staring at her, and I felt the pain in my heart swell up. Her mother was like my mother, and her pain was like my pain. I found myself sliding down the wall and sitting next to her. I pulled some tissue from my pocket and offered it to her.

"Hey," I said to get her attention. She looked up, saw the tissues, and took them gratefully.

"Thank you," she replied through tears.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. You didn't have to step in, you know. They might make you a target, too."

"Let 'em."

"Why are you willing to put yourself in danger over me? We've never met."

"I couldn't just stand around and watch. And besides, it's not like we can't meet now." 

I stared into Tiffany's eyes and saw so much pain. It felt pretty familiar to me. Aside from the bruise on her cheek, she was very pretty. She was light-skinned, with long, brown hair. Now don't ask me why, but for a second I had actually thought to myself, "She's prettier than Angel". I caught myself with that thought for a second, but I didn't say anything. Angel had a darker complexion and had short black hair, but she was still very pretty. I wiped a falling tear from Tiffany's face and smiled.

"Even with a bruise, you're pretty," I said.

"Thanks," Tiffany said with a smile. She held out her hand after a second. "I'm Tiffany."

"Rob," I said, taking her hand.

Tiffany lay her head back, and I did the same. We sat there talking for the rest of the lunch period, although I wished it wouldn't have ended.

********

The last class of the day was my Social Science class. Angel sat beside me in that class, and although we normally talked during this period, she was very quiet this time. I glanced at her a couple of times, but she never even made eye contact with me. Ms. Drummond, the teacher, was holding a class discussion on, of all things, drugs. What a happy subject, right? I wasn't really paying attention, as I didn't want to hear it, until she said one thing that got my attention.

"So, who here thinks that drugs will ever go away?" 

The class fell silent for awhile, and nobody raised their hands. Eventually one student spoke up.

"Drugs are good business, Ms. Drummond. I don't think that they'll ever go away," the student said.

"An interesting point. Does anybody have anything to add?" asked Ms. Drummond.

"Dealers prey on the innocent, and the innocent move to them like lambs to the slaughter. It's an easy business, and unless somebody can put a stop to it, drugs will always be around, there will always be people to push them, and there will always be somebody to abuse them," I said without looking up.

"That's quite true, Mr. Jordan. But, who would possibly be able to stop such a thing?" asked Ms. Drummond.

I sat in thought for a second. Then I spoke.

"I don't know. But somebody will rise up to try," I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Angel looking at me, but I never looked back up.

At the end of the day, I was walking to the bus stop with Angel and Brian. They were both talking, but I was keeping to myself. It was a few minutes before I could vaguely hear my name.

"Ain't that right, Rob?" said Brian. "Rob? Rob!"

"Huh? What?" I said, looking up.

"That test today in Ms. Litz's class. Wasn't that tough?"

"Oh...yeah, it was..." I wasn't really thinking about the test. I had other things on my mind.

Just then, as we were walking, Angel had noticed somebody from a few feet away.

"Oh, God..." she said in an exasperated tone.

I looked up, and there was my weed contact. He saw me, smiled, and approached. Brian seemed indifferent to his presence, but Angel was obviously very annoyed. The guy nodded to Brian, and Brian nodded back, just to be polite, I guess. Then the guy turned to Angel.

"Hey, Sweet Thang, how you doin'?" the guy asked Angel.

"I know you?" she said without making eye contact. Brian snickered a little bit. I just stared at the guy, 'cuz I knew what he wanted.

"Aw, don't be like that, Ma," the guy said. Angel simply continued walking. Eventually she stopped and turned back to me.

"Rob, are you coming?" asked Angel.

The dealer turned to me after that and smiled.

"My boy'll be with you in one second, pretty. First, we gotta talk business," the guy said. He presented a small packet of weed. "Ain't that right?"

I looked down at the drugs in his hand. This guy had always been a reliable supplier, I'd give him that. But I thought about everything that had been going through my head. I looked up at my friends, and I saw the disappointed look in their eyes, as if they just knew that I was going to buy the weed. I looked back down at the weed, and then I looked the dealer in the eyes.

"Wrong," I said as I pushed his hand away from me. "I'm done with that shit."

I continued walking, and my astonished friends followed soon afterwards. I kept walking until I reached the bus stop. We stood in silence for a few minutes until the bus came. Once it did, we all went to the back of the bus and sat down. Again, we were silent. But then, Brian broke the silence.

"Rob, are you okay?" he asked.

"What, is that the question of the day?" I asked. I was seriously tired of being asked if I was okay.

"Dog, you turned down weed. You, Robert Jordan, turned down weed. I mean...it makes no sense!"

"So is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked.

"Very good," Angel said. "But, why? Normally you'd jump at the chance to smoke."

"Look...have you ever had a feeling like...like you wanted to change things?" I asked.

"What kinds of things?" asked Angel.

"I mean, you know about my mom...and my brother...it's just..."

"It's fucked up, but at least they'll still be around when you need them," said Brian.

"I haven't heard from my mother in months and the other day my brother got fifteen years. They will not be around when I need them," I snapped back.

Brian stopped and had a look of surprise on his face. 

"You never told us about that," said Brian.

"Is that why you didn't come to school the other day?" asked Angel.

I thought for a moment about the events of that day.

"More or less..." I replied.

"So how are you going to change things?" asked Angel.

"I don't know. I just feel like...like I need to make a difference..."

"You know what? You're sounding really cliche right now. Like something out of a movie or a comic book. You're not gonna become a superhero or anything, are you, Rob?" Brian asked as he laughed.

"No," I said, looking out of the window. "No, of course not..."

  
  


END OF CHAPTER THREE


	4. They Say That A Hero Can Save Us

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Yeah, this is Blaque Cell, the author. I just wanted to say thank you for all the positive reviews from all of you guys. Also, I wanna give a shoutout to Appreciative Reader, my most loyal reviewer. Lots of thanks for the reviews, you're my inspiration for continuing this story. Also, Jonathon, I know the Lizard's real name is Curt Connors, but for some reason, the mood struck me to make Mendell Stromm the Lizard. It was either that or make him Gaunt, and hardly anybody knows who Gaunt is (basically it was Stromm's psyche inside of a big robot). IwillMarryJustinTimberlake, you know I love you, baby, and I gotta give you lots of props 'cuz you're a damn good writer yourself. Thanx for the reviews, this series is far from over.

With that said, on to Chapter Four.

  
  


CHAPTER FOUR: They Say That A Hero Can Save Us...But They're Lying

  
  


I surveyed the situation from high above. There, on the ground, was the pusher. Some punk who went by the name of Shocker. Rumor has it, the only reason he had that name is because he got his stupid ass electrocuted at the age of fourteen when he stuck a paper clip into an electrical outlet just to see what would happen. I watched him from high above, in the shadows, just like a spider.

There was a kid standing next to him. The kid couldn't have been any older than ten. I heard the Shocker call him Tyrone. The kid was trying to walk away, but Shocker wouldn't let him leave. I just stayed perched upon the wall, hidden in darkness, and listening.

"Look kid, I don't give a damn what your momma said. When I tell you to make a delivery, you do it, got it?" Shocker asked harshly.

"I...I don't want to..." Tyrone said slowly.

"You know what? Get the hell out of here. I'll get you when I need you. Go home to your momma."

With that, Tyrone ran as fast as he could out of the alley. Shocker lit a cigarette and began to puff on it.

"Worthless piece of shit..." I heard him mutter.

That's when I dropped down on him. I used my left foot to push him down, and then I stood over him with my fist cocked back. He stared up at me in shock.

"Who the fuck are you?" Shocker exclaimed.

"Shut up," I replied just before slapping him in the face.

I felt that buzz in my neck again. Shocker had just grabbed a gun and was about to blast me. Instinctively, I grabbed the gun and crushed it in his hand. Shocker began to scream again. It was...irritating, to say the least. So, I slapped him again.

"I said, 'shut up'. You speak English, don't you?" I said.

I could see that Shocker was trying to stare at me through my mask. I lifted him up by his throat and slammed him into a nearby wall.

"Listen up, pussy, 'cuz I'm only gonna say this once. If I ever see you trying to get Tyrone, or any other kid, to make a delivery for you, I'll rip off your arm and repaint this alley with it. Got it?" I asked him. Almost immediately, I could see the defiance in his eyes.

"Fuck you," he replied through gritted teeth. I only smiled.

"Figured you'd say that," I said to him.

I turned and tossed Shocker at the wall behind me. With his arms outstretched, I pinned them both to the wall with webbing. He now stood in a pose that was much like a crucifix.

"Are you going to leave the kids around here alone?" I asked him.

"Suck my dick!" is what he screamed in my face. 

I cracked my knuckles and punched his right hand. I could hear his bones splintering and see blood oozing out of his hand. Shocker screamed in agony from the blow. I immediately grabbed him by the face, cupping his chin in between my thumb and index finger.

"Are you going to leave the kids around here alone?" I asked again.

"Yeah...yeah man, I'm gonna leave the kids alone...just...just let me go, man..." the Shocker replied through tears.

I stepped back, cracked my knuckles, and destroyed his left hand, just as I had done to his right hand. He screamed again.

"What was that for?" he asked of me.

"That was because you are the scum of the earth. You and your kind, who prey on innocent people just to make a quick dollar. From now on, you are no longer a dealer. Get a real job, or sit and do nothing until the day you die, one or the other. But if I ever find you selling drugs in my city again, your balls are gonna suffer the same fate that your hands just did. You are no longer a drug dealer, got it?" 

"Yeah...yeah, I got it..."

"Say it."

"I'm...I'm not gonna sell drugs anymore..."

"Louder!"

"I'm not gonna sell drugs anymore!" he screamed back at me. I smiled through my mask and stepped back.

"And who am I?" I asked.

"I...I don't know, man..."

"That's right. You don't know. Let that be the mystery that keeps you up at night." 

With that, I made my way up the wall, leaving the Shocker, with his two mangled hands, stuck to the alley wall. I ran along the rooftops of Philadelphia, bouncing back and forth between buildings, leaping from one roof to the other, until I finally made it home. Once I had made it to my roof, I glanced around to make sure nobody was looking, and then I entered through my bedroom window.

Closing the shades to my window, I turned around and stared into the mirror. In it, I saw what most would see as a reflection, but to me it was a different person entirely. I had on a black muscle shirt, with black sweatpants, boots, gloves, and a ski mask. I removed the mask and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

Why had I beaten on the Shocker as badly as I had? When I saw him, I saw the Rhino. When I saw him, I saw every drug dealer who had ever done anything wrong to anybody, including my mother. When I saw him, I saw...

"Aaron...:" I said aloud.

I thought about my brother. My brother was no different than he was. Aaron had sold drugs to people just like Shocker did, and he probably ruined just as many lives as the Shocker did. My brother had become what I hated so badly. At first I felt a tinge of pain in my heart, but I brushed it aside quickly.

"He brought it on himself..." I said to myself.

Just then, I felt the buzz on my neck again. The front door to my house opened and closed. I listened intently to hear who it was.

"Rob?" my dad called from down the stairs.

Hooray for me, my dad was home from his trip. Meaning, the party was over. I quickly had to get the alcohol and women out of the house.

"Yo, I'm up here!" I yelled down to him as I slipped off my gloves and threw them, along with my mask, into a nearby drawer. My dad came upstairs a second later.

"It's good to be home," my dad announced, as if I had actually asked him whether or not it was good to be home. "I see you didn't burn the house down. What, couldn't find any matches?" My father began to laugh as if he had actually said something funny.

"Ha. Ha. Oh yeah, and ha," I replied dryly.

"What were you doing while I was gone? Lifting steroids? Taking weights?" he asked.

"What are you talking about...?" That's when I realized that he was making another one of his stupid jokes, in regards to my newly developed muscles. "Try not to take this the wrong way, Dad, but you're not funny."

"Oh, yes I am. I'm a comedic genius who's just held back by mental illness." Suddenly my dad's face took a much more serious expression. "Listen, son, I spoke to your grandmother while I was gone. She told me about Aaron. You want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Well, I know it must be hard to accept. I mean, you've known him your whole life..."

"Doesn't mean a thing to me. So he'll be gone for fifteen years, who cares?"

"Fifteen years is a long time, Rob."

"I don't care. It's not like somebody put a gun to his head and made him sell drugs. Let him rot in prison."

"Rob, he's still your brother."

"Says who? I have no brother!"

I turned around right after that and closed my door. The last thing I needed was to be reminded of that worthless waste of flesh that was once my brother. I grabbed my CD Player and put the headphones on my ears. In it was the Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem's second album. I immediately skipped to Track Seven, "The Way I Am", put it on repeat, and drifted off to sleep.

*******

That Monday, it was back to school. I was, as usual, bored. That is, until we reached my favorite class, gym. Mr. Harris, the teacher, had us out in the field behind the school, playing football. Well, I was feeling particularly aggressive this day, so I decided to hurt a few people. I didn't toss people around, mind you, but I made sure that they felt my rage. Mr. Harris just stood back, watching. I could tell that he was impressed, so I decided to do a little showboating. For instance, when Superhustler, who was also the world's greatest wide receiver, ran for the ball that our quarterback had thrown, three guys began to converge upon him. Yes, he was a great wide receiver, but remember that wide receivers are generally small guys. That would describe Brian. Seeing that my buddy was about to be crushed, I ran after him. One of the guys, who easily weighed a hundred pounds more than me, tried to bump me off so I couldn't defend Brian. Instead, I shoved him away with my left arm, which sent him sailing for about eight feet. Another guy tried to clip my leg, but I leapt over him easily and took off running. The last guy was running straight for Brian and was ready to destroy him. I lowered my head, charged, and plowed right into the guy. He flew away, leaving Brian staring at me in shock. I saw him staring at me and immediately pointed up at the ball that was soaring toward us. If I hadn't pointed it out, the ball would have flown right over his head, but Brian was able to get back to his senses and run backwards. The ball hit his chest, he clutched it, and took off running toward the end zone. I immediately relaxed, because it is a known fact that when Brian gets the ball, it is an automatic touchdown. I mean, the guy runs like a crackhead. To quote Ice Cube in "Friday", which is my favorite movie of all time, "You ain't catchin' no crackhead."

After the game, I stood around talking to all of the guys that I had just annihilated. They were all praising my moves, saying that I should join the team and stuff like that. I thanked them all and watched them walk off. Looking to my side, I could see Brian, who was trying to coerce everybody into carrying him back into the school on their shoulders, as if he had just won the Super Bowl. Naturally, his efforts were for naught.

That's when I noticed somebody out of the corner of my eye. Turning around, I could see Tiffany coming towards me. She was smiling at me, so I smiled back. Why did I smile back? I dunno, she smiled at me first, what do you want?

"Hey, Rob," greeted Tiffany.

"What's the deal, Tiffany?" I said, greeting her back.

"You almost killed them on the field, you know."

"They were gonna kill my boy first."

"Brian could have taken that."

"You must be talkin' about a different Brian. He acts tough out there, but just let him get a little scrape. He won't shut up about it for a week."

"I don't believe it. Oh yeah, Rob, do me a favor and tell him that I do not want a CD. He won't stop asking..."

"He doesn't mean to. It's just that he asks so many people that he ends up forgetting who he asked already."

Tiffany smiled and walked with me as I made my way back to the school.

"Where's your other friend?" Tiffany asked.

"Other friend?"

"You know, Angel."

"Oh, Angel. She has gym after us."

"I see...Can I ask you a question, Rob?"

"You just did."

"Shut up! I mean it."

"Unless it's about how much money is in my pocket, go right ahead."

"Are you and Angel more than friends?"

"Nope."

We walked in silence for a moment. We entered the school, and found ourselves in a small alcove that led out to the field. Tiffany grabbed my arm and stopped me while the rest of our class filed in. Once they were all gone, the questioning began again.

"Have you ever been more than friends?" asked Tiffany.

"Nope," I said again. "Any more questions?"

"No, I don't think so..."

I was about to walk away, but then something stopped me. What stopped me, you ask? I dunno, maybe it was that Tiffany had just turned me back to her and kissed me. What, you expected me to be subtle about it? Well, that's too damn bad, 'cuz the kiss sure wasn't subtle. At first I stood there, trying to comprehend what was happening. But, about one-one-hundredth of a second later, I found myself wrapping my arms around her waist. I closed my eyes, moving my hands slowly down her backside. She had both hands on each side of my face, which she then moved around my neck and embraced it. We stood there kissing for a good minute in silence. That is, until I felt the buzz on the back of my neck again. I pulled back and turned my head to the side. There was somebody there.

Angel stood there, staring at us in shock. I guess I was in shock too, because I had no idea what to do or say. It probably didn't help that both of my hands were planted firmly upon Tiffany's ass. Angel didn't say a word. Before I could even begin to speak, she walked past both of us and out of the alcove, leading onto the field where her next class was to begin. Tiffany and I found ourselves staring at the ground silently, and eventually we quietly made our way to our next classes.

Things were especially awkward for the rest of the day. Especially lunchtime, which would normally be our chill time. Angel, Brian, and myself sat at our normal seats, but Angel was not engaging in her favorite pastime, talking. Instead, she was doing some homework from one of her classes. I sat there quietly, and Brian was looking back and forth between us. Eventually I spoke up.

"Need some help?" I asked Angel.

"No, thank you," she replied without bothering to look up from her books.

"Enough! I can't take this!" Brian exclaimed all of a sudden. I swear the guy has mental issues.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"You two have been sittin' here, not saying a thing, and if you think I can't feel the tension between you two, then think again! Now I'm not gonna leave either of you alone until you tell me what's going on!" proclaimed Brian.

"Nothing's going on over here," said Angel, who was still engaged in her book.

"Rob?" Brian asked, turning to me.

"Everything's gravy," I replied.

"Liar!" Brian immediately reminded me of that lawyer from Law and Order.

"Anything further, Mr. McCoy?" I asked him.

"I'll figure this out sooner or later. You better believe I'll figure this out," said Brian as he walked away and approached the lunch line.

I looked back to Angel. She was still doing her homework, acting as if she hadn't heard a word of Brian's outburst. I'm not even gonna lie. There was a lot of tension there, and it was driving me crazy. I found myself leaving the lunchroom and heading down the hall to clear my head. 

I was walking away from the lunchroom, with nowhere in particular to go. Looking ahead, I could see Tiffany, who was walking down the hall as well. I began to walk toward her, and that's when I felt that tingle again. I looked up and saw three guys come from a side door and rush Tiffany. She began to scream, but one of her attackers managed to clamp his hand over her mouth. The three of them drug her a few feet away and into the boy's bathroom. I sprinted in their direction immediately.

I opened the door to the bathroom. I could hear them in a nearby stall. Two of the guys were standing outside of the stall. They advanced upon me as soon as I walked in. I dodged a cross from the first one and retaliated with a cross of my own, which knocked him out immediately. The second guy, who was a bit bigger, tried to swing at me with his right fist. I caught him by the forearm and squeezed it. He swung at me with his left, which I also caught. I then rammed the back of his head against the wall behind him. His unconscious body slumped to the ground. 

I opened the stall that they were guarding. Whoever had grabbed Tiffany had his back to me. He was trying to pull up her skirt and force himself on her. Suddenly I got this strange feeling in my head and neck. It was like the tingle that warned me of danger, only stronger. It was like an enhanced sense of anger. All I could see was red. I grabbed the asshole by his neck and tossed him out of the stall. He slid across the floor with his pants still around his ankles. I advanced upon him and stared down at him. That's when I recognized his face.

"Mark..." I said aloud as I took note of his face.

It was Rhino's little errand boy. The same one that I had beaten the other day. Why he was already out of jail was beyond me, but there he was. I stared down at him with my fist in the position to implant his head into the floor. I was about to commit the deed, but then I heard something that stopped me in my tracks. I looked over my shoulder, and I could see Tiffany crying. I looked back down at Mark, who was making his way out of the bathroom while trying to pull his pants back up. He didn't even bother trying to wake up his partners, whom I had already knocked out. Once he reached the door, he pointed a threatening finger at me.

"You're dead, motherfucker. You should have just stayed out of this..." said Mark before he ran off.

I turned back around. Tiffany looked up at me with tears in her eyes. I could feel my heart becoming heavy from the very sight. She stepped out of the stall and toward me. I placed my hand on her cheek and felt gently for any potential bruises.

"Are you hurt?" I asked her.

"No, I'm alright..." Tiffany replied.

Tiffany embraced me, and I found myself returning the embrace. I could hear her softly crying with her head buried into my chest. Rocking back and forth, I rubbed her back with my left hand.

"You're gonna be alright, baby. Don't worry about a thing, alright?" I said in my most reassuring voice.

"Okay..." she said quietly.

I looked up, and there in the doorway was a very stunned classmate of mine. I don't know what was so shocking to him: the fact that there were two unconscious people on the bathroom floor, or that a female was in the men's room. I stared him squarely in the eyes.

"Get some help," I said to him.

The stunned student nodded his agreement and ran off to get somebody. Tiffany and I made our way out of the bathroom slowly.

For the next few hours, school officials and cops were busy asking us both a lot of questions. Her mother, Melinda, and my father were both called in to be there while we had a long and pointless conversation with the cops. In the end, Tiffany decided not to file a report against Mark. Now before you scoff, let's be realistic for a second. Filing a report would not result in a positive outcome. Think the way criminals think: that's only grounds for stronger retaliation. Of course, the cops would still look for him.

When it was all said and done, Tiffany and I found ourselves standing in the school parking lot. Her mom and my dad were talking about God knows what. We stood there staring at them, wishing that they would both shut up and that this long day would just end. Eventually our respective parents approached us. My dad had his "Wholesome TV Dad" smile on, which made me very worried.

"Son, Tiffany and Melinda will be joining us for dinner tonight," my father announced.

I found myself smiling, although I don't know why, and I turned to Tiffany. "Cool."

"How do feel about that, Tiffany?" Melinda asked her.

Tiffany returned my smile. "Cool."

  
  


END OF CHAPTER FOUR


	5. Costumes and Confessions

CHAPTER FIVE: Confessions and Costumes

  
  


Imagine, if you will, the aromas of your favorite foods. Imagine all of those aromas, in one place, and all occurring at the same time. It's like it's Christmas day, and your parents just started preparing dinner, and you've been sitting there all day just smelling it. Well, that's the way it was in my house.

Tiffany and I were sitting at the top of the stairs in my house. Downstairs, my father was busy cooking up a feast. Melinda, her mother, couldn't just stand around while he cooked, though, and insisted that she help him with the meal. So our parents were down there, cooking and talking, while we sat up there listening.

"I'm sorry," I said to her.

"For what?" asked Tiffany.

"My dad. You didn't have to laugh when he was making those dumb jokes in the car..."

"It's okay. Your dad's not so bad."

"Says you, woman. You don't have to live with him."

Tiffany punched me in my arm playfully. Obviously, it did not hurt, but I pretended that it did. Tiffany started rubbing my arm where she hit me, then she kissed me on the cheek.

"Hey, show me your room," said Tiffany.

"I don't wanna," I replied.

"Why not?"

"It's messy."

"So?"

"There's dirty underwear all over the place."

"So?"

"It's wired to explode in two minutes."

"So?"

I sighed, lowered my head, and rose. Then I scooped up Tiffany's small frame in my arms and proceeded to my room. Once we were in my room, I lowered her onto my bed. She glanced around my room for a second, and then she reached for me. Grabbing my arms, she pulled me down so that I was positioned on my hands and knees above her. Our lips met instantly. I took in her smell, breathing inward as often as I could. Her arms circled around my neck, and my hands caressed her thighs. How long we kissed, I'm not entirely sure. But I can say this: I was having a very good time. Wouldn't you?

I'm not sure why, but I was having a very odd feeling. There was something about Tiffany that I could really relate to. I couldn't really place my finger on it, but there was something about her that made me want to really open up to her. I felt like I could tell her anything. I wanted to be able to tell her everything.

"Tiffany..."

"Yeah...?"

"I want to tell you...everything..."

"Like what?"

"I want to tell you...about me..."

"Tell me."

I repositioned myself so that I was sitting upright in my bed. Tiffany sat up and looked me in the eyes.

"What's wrong, Rob?"

"I want to tell you something...but I'm afraid of what it could mean if I told you..."

"Is it that bad?"

"Potentially..."

"Rob...you're the one who saved my mom from Rhino, aren't you?"

Well, that was...unexpected.

"Uh...what?" I was thrown off by that one.

"It was you, wasn't it? You were in the alley when I walked past. It was you who beat Rhino, wasn't it?" asked Tiffany.

"How...how did you know?"

"You really want to know? My mom recognized you. She mentioned it to me when you and your dad weren't paying attention."

It had never occurred to me that her mother might have recognized me from the day that I fought the Rhino. I felt like kicking myself in the ass, if only I were that flexible. But then, maybe I was with my new powers. It was a question for another day.

"And, if nothing else, I spoke both to you and to Spider-Man, and trust me, you and Spider-Man have very similar voices," said Tiffany.

"Spider-Who?" I asked. I had actually forgotten about that name.

"My mom said that you called yourself Spider-Man when you were fighting Rhino. Did you?"

"Oh yeah..."

"She told me something else that I think was a little weird. She said that you shot some...thing out of your arms at Rhino. Naturally, I thought she was seeing things, but I do remember seeing some mysterious gray stuff on the wall in my house. Care to explain?"

"Um...how am I supposed to explain that?"

"Just start talking. How did this happen to you?"

I gotta admit, Tiffany was acting exceptionally calm in regards to the whole "Finding Out Rob Is A Freak Of Nature" thing. I searched for the right words, and eventually, they just seemed to flow out.

"Alright, look. There was this guy...name was Norman Osborn. He did something to me...injected me with this drug..."

"What kind of drug?" asked Tiffany.

"I don't know. He said it had these chemicals in it, and it had spider's venom and DNA mixed into it. I thought it would have killed me, but I survived."

"Why didn't you call the cops on him?"

"And then what would I have done? They would have checked my blood, gotten a sample of my DNA, and then they would want to do all sorts of experiments on me just to see what I can do."

"I...I don't know what to say...just what can you do, Rob?"

"Promise not to scream?"

"Yeah..."

Rising off of my bed, I leapt upwards, flipped, and perched myself upon my ceiling. Tiffany was still sitting on my bed, staring up at me. I could see her jaw beginning to open as if she were about to scream, so I placed my finger against my lips. Tiffany caught herself, but she still looked very shocked.

"How...how are you doing that?" she asked.

"This is one of the side effects," I said. "So is this."

I lowered myself down on a webline from the ceiling. Once I was about two feet off of the ground, I flipped to my feet and stood upright. 

"My God...why didn't you tell me about this?" she asked.

"I didn't want to tell anybody. I still don't have a grip on all this."

"Brian and Angel don't know?"

"No, I don't know if I'm going to tell them."

"So why were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know..."

"Rob, you're like...a superhero or something..."

"I am not," I said with a smirk on my face.

"Well why not? I mean, you got the power, right?"

I thought for a moment, back to when I was fighting the Shocker. There was a reason why I did what I did. I wanted to rid the world of his kind, of those who would hurt others just for their own personal gain. There was nothing Robert Jordan could do to stop them. But Spider-Man...he could make a difference.

"You have a point..." I said.

"Of course, you'd need a costume," said Tiffany.

"I ain't wearin' no costume!" I exclaimed. "You must be outside your mind!"

"Come on, let me make you a costume!"

"No."

"I'll be your friend..."

"You're already my friend."

"The point, Mr. Jordan, is that I really could make you a cool costume to wear. In fact, I already have an idea. It could look cool in the daytime, yet scary in the nighttime."

"You're serious about this?"

"Yes! Stand up for a second. Let me get a good look at you."

I reluctantly stood up for her to examine me. She observed me for a moment.

"Hit a spin," she said with a smile.

"No," I replied.

"Do it!"

I sighed and turned around for her to observe my whole body, although she was most likely just staring at my ass. When I turned back, she smiled.

"Okay, I think I can do this," said Tiffany.

"Are you out of your mind?" I asked her.

"Probably. This is gonna be fun..."

Okay, time to fast forward again. Dinner was uneventful, as was sleep, so don't ask. Time to skip to the next day at school. Don't like it? Then go read something else. Go ahead. I dare you. Wait, come back...

Anyway, here I was in school the next day. Mr. Harris had decided that he wanted to be lazy this day and had us watching And One streetball tapes instead of actually engaging in physical activity. Some of us were watching the tape, but I was at the back of the room keeping to myself. As for Brian, he was busy doing what he did best. In case you didn't know, And One mixtapes have a different soundtrack for every tape that they release. Whenever a new song comes out for them, one would be able to download it rather easily off of their computer. You see where I'm going with this?

"C'mon, I know you love the songs on this tape. For just five dollars, I could get you any song off of the tape and put it on a CD..." This was the sales pitch that Brian had used upon just about everybody in the room.

It was only about three minutes before everybody started screaming, "Sit down, Brian!"

About ten minutes into the class, the door to the classroom opened. In came Tiffany, who was panting as if she had just run to the classroom. She handed a note to Mr. Harris.

"Sorry, Mr. Harris, I just got to school," Tiffany said.

"That's alright, Tiffany. Have a seat, and beware of Brian," said Mr. Harris.

Tiffany spotted me at the back of the room and sat beside me. 

"How come you're so late?" I asked her.

"Nevermind that. I have something to give you after school," she replied.

"You got me something? If it's food, I'll except."

"It's not food."

"Then what is it?"

"It's a surprise," she said with a smirk.

Just then, out of seemingly nowhere, Brian popped up. I jumped. Even my sense of danger couldn't tell me when Superhustler was gonna pop up.

"No surprise in the world could be as good as a CD from me. What do you say, man?" asked Brian.

"How do you do that?" I asked him.

"Do what?"

"How do you just pop up like that?"

"I dunno, I got superpowers, I guess," said Brian.

I could hear Tiffany snickering beside me, but I didn't say a word. Right at that moment, the bell rang. We all got up for the next class, and as we filed out, I saw somebody familiar walking into the room. It was Angel, but she wasn't alone. There was some guy with her, a tall guy, with an authentic Allen Iverson jersey, new Jordans on his feet, and a gold chain hanging around his neck. The guy had his arm around Angel. She hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" said Angel.

"Yeah, I'll see you there," the guy replied.

They separated then, with Angel entering the room and the mystery asshole walking away. Brian saw me watching Angel enter the room and approached me.

"You alright, dog?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine..."

I must point out to you that I was extremely disappointed at the way things were going as of late. Case in point: lunchtime, my favorite time of the day, had now become a drab, dismal black hole of boredom from which no molecule, carbon-based or otherwise, could possibly have any hope of escaping from. I could see Angel in the corner of the lunchroom, sitting with that new guy, whoever he was. Brian and I were sitting there, with nary a word being uttered between the two of us. That's when I broke the silence.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"Who?" asked Brian.

"That guy that Angel's with."

Brian glanced toward Angel's direction.

"Oh, that's Andre," he informed me.

"And who the hell is Andre?"

"How do you expect me to answer that question? He's the first nuclear physicist to attend our school, happy?"

"I mean, where did he come from? I ain't never seen him a day in my life, and all of a sudden he comes up in here puttin' his hands all over my woman."

"....Say that again, Rob?"

"I said, I've never seen him before, but then he just shows up and starts puttin' his hands all over my best friend."

"That's not what you said, Rob."

"Yes, it is."

"You did not say 'best friend'."

"What did I say?"

"You said 'my woman'."

"You're out of your mind. Angel is not my woman."

"Your exact words: 'I ain't never seen him a day in my life, and all of a sudden he comes up in here puttin' his hands all over my woman'. No joke, man."

Did I really say that? I wouldn't normally say that. After all, Angel wasn't my woman. My closest friend, yes, but not my woman. Maybe that injection of spider DNA did something else, beside just giving me powers. I was beginning to think things that I didn't mean to think, and it was scary. 

The rest of the day was uneventful, as always. After school, Brian and I walked past Angel's locker to find her so we could catch the bus home, but instead I saw her walking with Andre and his friends. Andre had taken off his jersey and was letting Angel wear it, along with a matching NBA cap.

"You're gonna be alright, man," Brian said, as if I needed reassuring. Just then, I remembered that Tiffany said she had something to give me.

"Yeah, sure. Listen, you may as well go ahead. I just remembered something," I said before walking back to where Tiffany's locker was.

Tiffany was there, of course, leaning against her locker with her arms crossed. There was this look on her face, like she was aware of the secret to end all secrets, but it would cost me to get her to divulge the information. Her smile only got wider once she saw me coming.

"Took you long enough," she commented.

"I know. What you got to give me?" I asked.

"Oh, so it's like that? Fine, sucka, I don't have to give you a thing."

"Alright, I'm sorry. Could you please tell me what it is that you're giving me?"

Tiffany turned around and opened her locker. Inside of it was a black leather bookbag.

"Ooh, a bookbag. Now I can do even more schoolwork," I said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Rob! The surprise is inside of the bag. Take the bag in the bathroom and check it out."

"Why do I have to take it into the bathroom? What, is it gonna explode?"

"Just do it!"

My danger sense wasn't beating me over the head, so everything seemed to be alright. I picked up the bag and took it into the bathroom. After looking at the contents of the bag, I stepped back out.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked her.

"Put it on, silly," she replied.

"I refuse to wear this."

"Why?"

"Didn't we have this conversation yesterday?"

"Please, Rob?" She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

".....No."

"Please, Rob?" She leaned over and kissed me on the lips.

"................No."

Tiffany then proceeded to punch me in the stomach.

"Please, Rob?"

"Okay, just don't hurt me..."

I went back into the bathroom and entered a stall. Once there, I began to undress. After that, I removed the contents of the bag and started putting them on. After putting on the shirt, pants, gloves, and boots, I poked my head out of the door.

"Anybody around?" I asked to Tiffany.

"It's safe. Come on out," she replied.

Slowly, I placed one foot out of the door. After that, my other foot followed suit. About three hours later, I assume, my whole body had managed to make it out of the bathroom.

"You look...cute," said Tiffany.

"That's it, I'm taking this off," I said as I made my way back to the bathroom.

"Wait, you're not done yet!"

"How do you figure?"

"Put on the mask."

In my hand, I held a mask. It was red, with the design of a spider web running across it. There were two large glass lenses staring at me. Slowly I placed the mask over my head and pulled it down. I stood there completely dressed in a costume that Tiffany had made for me. The suit was...well, I really don't feel like describing it. I'm sure you've seen it before. Red, blue, webs, a couple of spiders, you know what I mean.

"This isn't so bad, actually..." I noted as I admired myself.

"And I bet you can see pretty clearly through those lenses, can't you?" asked Tiffany.

"Actually, I can. What is this, anyway?"

"Mirrored glass. You can see through it, but anybody whose looking at you won't be able to see your eyes."

"Damn...this is alright, Tiffany. This is why you were late coming to school today?"

"Damn right! I stayed up all night making this costume for you!"

I couldn't believe it. I was actually standing there in a costume that Tiffany had made for me. I pulled the mask up until it was just over my nose, but still covering my eyes. Then I wrapped my arms around Tiffany and pulled her close to me.

"Thank you, Tiffany. Thank you for everything," I said.

"It's alright, Rob. You're welcome," she said back.

"One thing, though." I pressed my lips against hers for a couple of seconds, just for dramatic effect. Then, I pulled my mask back down to cover my whole face. "Call me Spider-Man."

With that, I leapt out of the nearby window, again just for dramatic effect because, let's face it, I'm a showoff. The only problem was, as I watched her playful expression on the way out of the window, I suddenly remembered that I had left my clothes in the school. I reached out and managed to grab back onto the wall, then I climbed back up to the window. Once I got there, Tiffany was standing there smiling and holding my clothes. I took them graciously. She didn't say a word; she just stood there smirking at me.

"Gimme a break, I'm new at this," I said before jumping away from the wall.

  
  


END OF CHAPTER FIVE

  
  



	6. Thunder Storm

CHAPTER SIX: Thunder Storm

  
  


I hate drug dealers. Oh, of course you knew that. But, seriously, I can't stand the bastards. So, here I was, in an alley, watching some assholes trying to make a deal. Well, naturally, I had to stop them. There were five guys in the alley. The first thing I did was drop the from wall and plant my foot into the back of one of the dealers. Upon my landing, I had rendered him unconscious. The other assholes just stared at me, so I had to take advantage of the situation. I slapped the guy in front of me and then rammed my fist into his sternum. As he fell, I turned and hook-kicked the guy on the side of me, knocking him out. The guy behind him swung at me with a knife. I leapt out of the way of his blade, bounced off of the nearby wall, and kicked him in the side of the head. The last guy tried to run. I smiled under my mask and held out my hand. All I had to do was will the webbing and I would stop him in his tracks. Well, I did, and this is what happened: the webbing got stuck in my damned glove.

"God-damnit!" I screamed out loud.

It had never occurred to me that I didn't have a way to get my webbing out of my glove. Sure, Tiffany had made me this great costume, but neither of us had really thought about how the hell I was supposed to fire my webs through the damned glove. So, the last asshole managed to escape. 

********

Later that night, I was in my room, taking a razor-blade to the wrists of my gloves. As I was doing that, the phone rang. I reached over to my dresser and picked it up.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, baby." It was Tiffany.

"Hey, boo. What's goin' on?"

"Nothin'. What are you doing?"

"Slitting my wrists."

"What?"

"The wrists on my gloves, that is."

"Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"I'm sorry, baby." I struggled to hold in a laugh.

"Why are you cutting the wrists on your gloves, anyway?" asked Tiffany.

"....I'd rather not talk about it. Anyway, what's goin' on?"

"I'm lonely. I need somebody to talk to."

"Well, here I am."

And so, we talked. For a long, long, long time. I don't think I fell asleep until about five in the morning. Naturally, I had to wake up at five-thirty to get ready for school.

********

Here we were in my favorite (read: least favorite) class of them all: Chemistry. The teacher, Dr. Zipin was, quite possibly, the most boring teacher in the world. When he gave a lecture, the classroom was like a battlefield during World War Three. We were the casualties of war, laying all over the place, groaning in pain as we slowly slipped out of the world of the living. Well, it wasn't so much groaning, more like snoring as we found ourselves draped over our desks like tablecloths. Dr. Zipin was giving some boring lecture about electricity, and how certain things cause electricity to be grounded and what can prevent conductivity and some other bullshit that I didn't need to know. I mean, when would I actually need to know this stuff? I wasn't trying to be an electrician or something.

Suddenly, my saving grace had arrived in the form of the school intercom. My head shot up immediately. Hell, any interruption was a blessing at this point. I could hear the principal, Ms. Holloman, speaking on the intercom. When she spoke, it sounded as though her mouth was full of donuts, but even that voice was a step above the sleep-inducing terror that was Dr. Zipin's voice.

"Please pardon the interruption, Parkway students and staff," Ms. Holloman said. "Would all teachers please escort their classes to the auditorium for an impromptu assembly? I repeat, all teachers, please escort your students to the auditorium immediately."

The next thing I knew, a herd of buffalo had just rushed past me and out of the room. At least, that's what it sounded like. Dr. Zipin just watched with his jaw agape as his class proceeded to abandon him. After everybody had left, I gathered my stuff and made my way to the auditorium.

Within a few minutes, the whole school was inside of the auditorium. I went all the way to the back, where Brian was seated. Oddly enough, Angel was not sitting with him. 

"Yo, where's Angel?" I asked him.

"Over there," Brian said as he nodded his head to the left.

Surely, Angel was there, sitting with Andre. It was bad enough that she was sitting with him and not me, but imagine how pissed off I was when I saw that the asshole had his arm around her. I immediately made my way towards Angel and sat down beside her.

"Hey," I said, trying to get her attention.

"Oh, hi Rob," she hesitantly replied.

"Where you been? I ain't seen you in a minute."

"I've been around."

"You don't take the bus with me and Brian no more."

"I've just been busy."

Suddenly, the asshole decided to throw in his two cents.

"Yeah, she's been busy. And my friend's about to sit in that seat, playa," Andre said to me.

"Your friend can wait," I said without bothering to look at him. "You been alright, Angel?"

"I'm fine, Rob. Besides, why worry about me? Don't you like hanging around Tiffany now?" There was a particular bit of venom in her voice when she said that.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you need to raise up out that seat," Andre the asshole perked up again.

"I'm speaking to the lady, in case you weren't payin' attention. You just sit there and be ugly until we're finished talking," I snapped back.

"Enough, you two. Rob, I'm fine. Is that all you wanted to speak to me about?" asked Angel.

"One last thing," I said as I rose. "Don't forget who your real friends are." I made sure to give Andre a little glare before I walked away. When I reached my seat, Brian was just staring up at me in silence. "What?" I asked him.

"You gotta calm down, man," said Brian.

"I'm calm," I replied as I sat back in my seat.

"Yeah, and I'm not a hustler."

"Not a good one," I replied.

Just then, a very pretty light-skinned girl came and sat beside me. The very pretty girl planted a kiss on my cheek. Being as though I was comfortable and didn't feel like getting up, I took the very pretty girl's hand and kissed it. I call that very pretty girl Tiffany.

"What's wrong, baby?" Tiffany asked me.

I could practically hear Brian rolling his eyes.

"I'm chillin'," I said as I kissed her hand again.

"Hey, Brian," Tiffany said to Superhustler. He nodded back to her. "What's wrong? You don't have a CD to sell me?"

"Not today," Brian replied.

"What's wrong with you two? You're both moody as hell," commented Tiffany.

"It's just one of those days, baby," I said to her. Tiffany sat in my lap, and I threw my arms around her waist. "So, what's this assembly about, anyway?"

"I heard it's about that kid that went missing," said Tiffany.

"Somebody went missing?" I asked.

"Don't you remember when we were all in your house, and we were telling you about that kid in tenth grade that went missing?" said Brian.

"I think his name was Jason Thompson," said Tiffany.

I remembered that conversation that we had in my house. I also remember thinking about how I had no idea who that was, being as though I was a senior and he was a sophomore. 

"Oh, I remember. I'm surprised they still didn't find him," I said.

At that moment, we could all hear the donut-voiced Ms. Holloman speaking into a microphone. She stood on the stage in the front of the auditorium. Beside her were three policemen, one of which was the chief of police, John Timony. Also, there were two people, a man and a woman, who I assumed were Jason's parents.

"Please settle down, people. As some of you may know, a student of ours has been missing for quite some time. Last week, a few officials from the police department spoke to some of you and asked if you had any information about the whereabouts of our student. Well today, Commissioner Timony would like to speak to all of you about safety."

Then, out of the blue, somebody in the crowd shouted out, "This ain't kindergarten!"

A lot of the people in the auditorium laughed. Ms. Holloman tried to ignore the outburst and go on.

"The reality is, we must all be very aware of what is going on around us. Now, I give you Commissioner Timony," said Ms. Holloman.

Before the commissioner could start speaking, the sound of static could be heard. The noise echoed all throughout the room, and when he tried to speak into the microphone, the noise only got louder. Suddenly, we could all hear a voice speaking into the mic, but nobody could see where it was coming from.

"I have to kill you! I will kill you!" the voice screamed into the mic.

Commissioner Timony stepped back from the mic. Some people in the room started to get up and make their way toward the exits. That's when my danger sense went off. I looked to the exit, where a guy was about to open the door. As soon as he grabbed the door, he screamed and jumped back.

"Damn thing shocked me!" the guy screamed.

The static only got louder as the seconds passed on. Several other foolish people ran to the doors like lemmings and got themselves electrocuted as well. My head was buzzing the whole time as people started swarming around me. My senses lead my attention above the stage, where I could see light forming. A ball of electricity started to form in the air. The ball began to expand until it finally took a more human-like form. Then, the thing actually did turn into a human. I lie to you not. There was a guy literally floating in midair. The guy's body fell and landed on the stage. Suddenly, the guy rose to his feet and started looking around. The man and woman on the stage both looked like they had seen a ghost.

"Jason!" the woman gasped. 

Jason's parents ran toward him. Then, out of nowhere, everything seemed to slow down. I could see what was about to happen.

"No!" I screamed.

But it was in vain. Jason turned toward his mother and blasted her with electricity. Within seconds, she was dead. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I mean, this guy was like living electricity or something. First, he had just appeared out of midair, had sealed all of the exits, and was now on the stage and had just killed his mother.

"Jason, what are you doing?" his father asked.

Within a second, Jason had turned to his father and made him suffer the same fate as his mother. Jason had just incinerated his father's body.

"Don't call me that! My name is Electro! And I have to kill him!" Jason yelled as he began to float above the stage. He floated over the crowd and rained lightning down upon people as he flew. "I will kill you! Stop hiding from me! I must kill you!"

Jason was looking around the room, searching for someone. Then, he stopped. He had found exactly who he was looking for. My danger sense went on high alert right there as I realized who it was he was looking for: it was me. My first instinct was to rise and get Tiffany out of the way.

"Get down!" I yelled as I pushed Tiffany to the floor.

It only took a split second for Jason to attack. A bolt of lightning came my way and blasted me directly in the chest. The next thing I knew, I had been propelled by the blast and crashed through the wall behind me. I ended up landing several feet away in the hallway outside of the auditorium. 

I'm not even going to try and act like a big tough guy: that shit hurt. I felt like the skin on my chest had just been singed. There was a big, smoking hole in my shirt, and beneath that, I could see the spider on my costume. I had no idea what the hell Jason had become, but I did know that he was in the auditorium, and so was my girlfriend, along with my two best friends. Looking up, I could see that some people were trying to escape through the hole that Jason had created with my body. I hopped to my feet and dashed into the bathroom. Once there, I removed my clothes and placed them behind the toilet in a stall. 

"Ain't no motherfuckin' way I'm gonna let some motherfucker come up in here and start electrocutin' me...motherfucker must be out his motherfuckin' mind, comin' in my motherfuckin' school, hittin' me with some motherfuckin' electricity..." I gracefully spat as I pulled my gloves onto my hands.

I was now in costume. Finally, I pulled on my mask and jumped into an air duct. I crawled my way through the duct until I found myself above the auditorium. Jason was still in there, and still causing carnage. I removed the grating from the duct and dropped down. Then, when I was close enough, I slammed both feet into Jason's back. Jason fell and slammed into the ground, and I landed a few feet away from him on my hands and feet. Even though I put all of my force into that kick, I could still feel a little buzz in them, as if the very kick had shocked me. Jason rose back to his feet and turned to me.

"Jason, calm down!" I demanded.

"My name is Electro! Now leave me!" Jason screamed back at me.

"Interesting name, Jason. But listen, Jason, I don't really wanna fight you, Jason, so come along quietly, Jason, and I won't have to hurt you, Jason, okay, Jason?"

Next thing I knew, I had to leap into the air to avoid being fried by a lightning bolt. I landed directly in front of him.

"Get away from me!" Jason screamed at me.

"Sure, just as soon as I knock your punk ass out," I said as I slammed my fist into his jaw. Again, I felt a little buzz in my arm. It probably was not a good idea to attempt to hit him again.

"I...said...get...away!" 

A field formed around Jason and expanded, blasting me backwards. I found myself flying until I landed in front of Commissioner Timony on the stage.

"Who are you?" the commissioner asked me.

"Somebody who needs to take up karate," I responded before getting back up to continue fighting.

Just as I got up, I could see that Jason was going back to attacking random people. That's when my danger sense hit me again. Jason was floating towards Angel and Andre.

"Get away from my woman!" Andre yelled at Jason.

Jason then proceeded to propel Andre halfway across the auditorium.

"You...you're his best friend, aren't you?" Jason asked Angel. "I have to kill you, too..."

I found myself panicking there. I didn't know what to do. I just had to stop Jason before he could hurt my friend. I ran to the edge of the stage, leapt, and tackled Jason. It hurt to even touch him, but I didn't care. There was no way I was going to let him hurt Angel. I wrestled him to the ground and started to pound his head into the floor with both fists. Then I flipped into the air before he could retaliate and landed a few feet away from him. Jason stood back up and held his hands toward me.

"I'll kill you, too!" he screamed.

"Fine, but no killing in the house." I fired webbing at him with both hands, wrapping him in it. Then, with a yank, I tossed him to the side and he flew through the window to the outside. I leapt out of the window and landed outside of the school where Jason was. As soon as I landed outside, I found myself being blasted with electricity. My back was to the wall, and Jason was busy pouring on the pressure. It felt like every fiber of my being was being fried.

"I killed him, and now I'll kill you, too!" Jason screamed.

I was starting to black out. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Here I was, in a red and blue costume, being electrocuted by someone who, just a few weeks ago, had just been another kid who attended my school. My vision was getting blurry, and I was beginning to go numb. With my last bit of feeling, I felt around for something to use to my advantage. That's when I felt a loose brick in the wall. I pulled out the brick and tossed it forward. A second later, the electric current had stopped running through my body. I fell to my hands and knees and started gasping for breath.

Jason's forehead had been busted open, but I really don't think he cared. Blood leaked down his face and soaked his clothes. He rose his hand into the air and charged electricity into it. Before he could attack, I ran toward him and hit him with a right uppercut, followed by a left cross, and finally another right uppercut. His body flew into the air, and I leapt into the air after him and planted my right foot into his stomach and sent him crashing back to the ground. Naturally, he couldn't just comply and stay down. No, he had to get back up.

"What is it you want?" I asked him.

"I have to kill him...I have to kill Jordan..." Jason replied.

"Jordan?"

"Robert Jordan...Mr. Osborn said that he would make the hurting stop if I killed Jordan..."

"Osborn? Norman Osborn?"

I thought back to the day that I got my powers. I remembered seeing somebody strapped to a table, getting electrocuted. I remember Norman Osborn calling it the "Electro Project".

"Jason, listen to me. You don't have to do what Osborn tells you to do. Osborn made me like this, too. Come with me, Jason. We can stop him together," I said.

"No! I have to kill Jordan, or the pain won't stop! And I have to kill you for getting in my way!" Jason yelled as he prepared to attack me again.

"Well, you know what? I have very little patience, so you've left me with no other choice."

I leapt toward Jason and began to beat him with all the strength I had left. I beat his head left and right with punches and kicks until I had him right where I wanted him: in the middle of the street. Then I backflipped and landed on a fire hydrant. I grabbed the cap and began to twist it.

"Look at it this way, Jason: at least you won't have to tell Osborn that you failed," I said before pulling the cap off and letting the water blast Jason. 

Jason screamed in pain as his body began to flash. The water washed over him, and he backed away from it until he was fully clear of it. I leapt off of the hydrant and kicked Jason in his throat, sending him to the ground. Once he was down, I grabbed him by the head with both hands.

"The pain...I have to stop the pain..." Jason cried.

"I'll stop the pain, Jason," I said.

I applied a bit of pressure, turned, and closed my eyes. I didn't want to see it, but I could hear the sickening crack as I finished the deed. I let go of Jason and stared down at his dead body. I really can't explain the feeling that I had at that moment. Aside from the fact that I was in excruciating pain, aside from the fact that I was in costume in front of my whole school, aside from the fact that somebody had just attacked me with electric powers, there was something else that stuck in my head: I had just killed somebody. Who was I to decide whether a person lived or died? I had just taken a person's life, and that person was only sixteen years old. It wasn't really his fault, but if I hadn't killed him, he would have killed everybody in the school, including my closest friends. I had no choice, right?

Suddenly my danger sense began to buzz again. I looked up, and there were about two dozen cops with their guns trained upon me.

"Lay face down on the ground!" one of them yelled to me.

"No," I replied.

"Remove your mask and lay face down, or we will fire!"

I didn't feel like dealing with the cops. For one thing, I had no idea why the hell they were even after me. Was it because I had killed Jason, or just because they needed to arrest somebody? Whatever the reason, I was not going to stand around and let it happen. I fired a web at a lightpole and yanked myself onto it. The cops began to fire at me, so I had to make a quick exit. I leapt from the pole to the side of the school and hurried up to the top.

I ended up having to sneak back into the school and into the bathroom to get my clothes. I placed my costume into my bookbag and put my clothes back on, along with my singed shirt. After that, I made my way outside. I could hear Brian, Tiffany, and Angel calling my name. Angel was the first to see me. She ran to me and slammed into me with a hug.

"Rob, I thought that thing killed you!" Angel said through tears.

"Ow...that hug might kill me..." I looked down at her and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Hey, don't worry, I'm fine."

"Rob, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry..." said Angel.

"Hey, it's alright." I looked around for a second. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Andre? The paramedics just got him. He's going to be okay, though."

"Damn!"

"Glad to see you're still in one piece, Rob," said Brian.

"Ditto. I'm sore as hell, though," I replied.

Tiffany approached me and took my hand. She and I walked away and stood against the wall of the school.

"Jason could have killed you," said Tiffany.

"Yeah, I know..." I said.

"Are you alright?"

"Not really."

"What was he? I mean, how did he become...like that?"

"The same guy that turned me into what I am...he turned Jason into that thing...into Electro..."

"What's an Electro?"

"That's what the experiment was called. Electro was like Osborn's personal living weapon. That's what I was supposed to be."

"So Jason was here to kill you?"

"Yeah..."

Tiffany was silent after that, as was I. I don't think either of us wanted to speak of the potential danger that I was in. I was too tired to even think about it. I just wanted to go home and sleep. And I hoped that this would not be a typical day for Spider-Man. I wouldn't be able to take too many more of these.

  
  


END OF CHAPTER SIX


	7. Tired

CHAPTER SEVEN: Tired

  
  


Have you ever read a comic book, and you saw some guy in there as the hero? Have you ever seen this hero go up against impossible odds, fighting somebody with godlike superpowers? Godlike powers such as...oh, I don't know...the ability to smoke you like a salmon with several thousand volts of electricity from the palms of his hands? And after the hero somehow won the battle, the very next issue of the book, which took place, what, a day later, would have the hero going out to fight yet another godlike supervillain? Well, I'd like to say something about that.

It's bullshit!

There is no way in hell that somebody would be able to go through some shit like that, being beaten up by somebody who may as well be a god, and then get up the next day and go back out to face some more superpowered freaks of nature and get his ass kicked all over again, just to go up the very next day and do it again. You gotta be outside your mind if you think Spider-Man is going anywhere today.

No, my friends, this is Spider-Man's day off. In fact, it's Robert Jordan's day off as well. Thanks to what happened the previous day during my fight with Jason, school had been canceled this day. So, naturally, I took it upon myself to stay in bed. Damn it, I'm not some crazy guy who dresses up like a flying rat and spends every waking moment of every day trying to fight crime. No, I'm some crazy guy who dresses up like a bug and fights crime in his spare time.

I slept late, naturally. By the time I had woken up, it was about eleven in the morning. My father had already left for work, which meant I had the house to myself. Or so I thought...

I hate the doorbell sometimes. I mean, seriously, I hate it. The damned thing rings exactly when you don't want it to. Of course, this was one of those times. So here I am, in a black muscle shirt and black boxers, unwashed, and I have to use the bathroom very badly, but somebody just had to ring the bell. I grabbed a pair of shorts and put them on over my boxers, then I slowly made my way down the stairs. Once I opened the door, my eyes had instantly been blasted with sunlight. I instinctively threw my arm over my eyes to block the light.

"I'm not that ugly, am I?" asked a female voice.

Opening my eyes, I could see that it was Tiffany. I managed a little smile, although honestly, I was still half-asleep.

"Hey, baby. I'm sorry, I'm just a little tired..." 

"Why? What you been doin'?" she asked accusingly.

"Getting electrocuted," I replied through a yawn.

We walked back into the house, where I dropped like a sack of potatoes onto the couch. Tiffany sat at one end of the couch and had me lay my head in her lap. I closed my eyes and tried to relax.

"Poor baby. Is there anything I can do?" she asked.

"Shoot me. Repeatedly. In the skull," I replied.

"That ain't happenin'."

"Feels like every muscle is on fire. Don't listen to the hype; being electrocuted hurts like hell."

"You know, you were great yesterday."

I opened my eyes to look up at her.

"How do you figure?" I asked. "Jason killed six people yesterday, including his parents, and I killed him. I didn't help anybody."

"Think of how many more people he would have killed if you didn't stop him."

"All I'm saying is, I didn't want to end the fight that way. It doesn't feel good to take another person's life. It ain't like the movies, where the hero runs around killing everyone in sight, and in the end everybody loves him. Look at any Shwartzanegger movie. He will kill anywhere between twenty and one-hundred people, and never give a damn. I killed one person, and that alone is too many."

"I understand what you're saying, Rob, but try and look at it this way: there are hundreds of people who go to our school. Let's just say about five-hundred. Of those five-hundred, you saved four-hundred-ninety-four of them. You can't be expected to save everybody. You're not Superma..."

"Please, don't finish that last statement."

"Fine," she laughed. "But I think you did a good job. And I think you earned a day off."

"Damn straight!"

"Come on," she said as she rose up. My head fell back down to the couch.

"Ow...where are we going?" I asked.

"Just come on," she said. 

She took my hand and rose me to my feet. We walked upstairs until we reached my bathroom. I was too tired to stand, so I plopped my ass onto the toilet. Tiffany started running some water in the shower. Now maybe this was because I was so tired, but I was certainly taken off-guard when she removed her shirt. Of course, I just sat there, maybe because I was exhausted, or maybe because I'm a damned fool. The world may never know. She removed her bra, then her sneakers, socks, jeans, and panties, and of course I continued to sit there like an idiot. Tiffany approached me and pulled my shirt over my head. That's when I snapped back to reality. I pulled my shorts and boxers down. We kissed our way from the toilet to the shower, and then we stepped in.

Suddenly, I wasn't tired anymore. I felt like I could do anything, which I probably could. I felt Tiffany running the soapy cloth down my back. As she did this, I ran my left hand along her backside, with the index and middle fingers from my right hand feeling for her clitoris. I didn't care about being tired anymore, I didn't care about Spider-Man, Electro, the Lizard, Norman Osborn, or anything. I only cared about Tiffany. Our lips met, our tongues became locked together. As Tiffany caressed my back with the cloth, her other hand, covered in soap, was caressing my penis. I removed my lips from hers and moved downward, toward her breasts. I sucked softly upon her nipples while I still fingered her with my right hand. I could hear her moaning louder and louder, which only stimulated me more. It would be another hour before we would stop the shower, and that's only because the damned hot water ran out.

We stepped out of the shower. Taking a towel, I dried Tiffany off, although I wasn't finished yet. Once I had her dried off, I wrapped the towel around her and picked her up, then I carried her to my bedroom. I lay her down on the bed and reached for a bottle of lotion from my dresser. First, I smoothed the lotion over her chest, then I moved down to her thighs and legs. She spread her legs, and I began to rub the lotion along her inner thighs. Now, I was finished with the lotion. I fingered her clitoris once again with one finger, while I used my tongue to stimulate her vagina in other areas. I licked the outer rim of the vagina, more to tease her than anything else. As she moaned louder, I licked faster, moving closer to the center of the vagina. I removed my finger from her clitoris and replaced it with my tongue, licking faster and faster until she climaxed. I sat beside her on the bed, watching her. Her breathing began to slow down after a moment as her orgasm began to wind down. She reached for my hand, and then she got on her knees and pushed me down. I was now staring up at her.

I closed my eyes and gripped the sheets as her lips moved around my most private parts. It felt like nothing else in the world existed, and if it did exist, then it just didn't matter. All the world consisted of was me and Tiffany. There was no more pain, or sadness, or even anger, which is all that I really knew in this world. There was a new feeling there, one that I simply wasn't accustomed to. By the time she stopped, I looked into her eyes, and I wanted to share the feelings that I had with her, but I was afraid to.

"I have to tell you something, but I'm not sure how..." I told her.

"Just tell me," she replied.

"I have this feeling...that I've never had before...it's like, all I knew before was anger, or sadness, but now, it's something different...it feels good, and yet, scary...I'm afraid of this feeling..."

"Rob, what are you saying?"

"Tiffany...I think I love you..."

"Rob...I understand. I have the same feeling...I think I love you, too."

I took Tiffany in my arms and turned so that she was laying on my bed, and I was over her. I didn't want to hide my feelings anymore. I was going to show her how much she meant to me. I reached into the top drawer of my nearby dresser and searched with my hand for a condom. Once I found it, I unwrapped it and placed it over my manhood. After that, I inserted myself slowly. I was going to take my time. There were a lot of feelings that I was going to share, and that she would share with me. Her nails dug into my back, clawing at it. But it didn't hurt. Actually, it felt pretty good. I could hear and feel her climax repeatedly. My bed had become soaked, but I didn't care. It was perfectly fine with me. I lost count of how many orgasms she had, but I knew that it was a very long time until I finally climaxed. How long? Well, by the time we had finally finished, the sun was just going down. I looked out of the window and saw that it was orange and red outside, not blue.

"What time is it?" I asked as I sat on the bed next to Tiffany. I could hear Tiffany giggling.

"Seven-thirty-five," she replied.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"It would have been longer, but I was tired."

"Shut up, Rob."

"I'm serious." Really, I was. With my new powers, I probably could have gone on for a couple of days.

I rose from the bed and went back to the bathroom to retrieve my clothes. Tiffany came in a short while later and put her clothes back on. Neither of us said a word. We just stared into each others' eyes for a while. Then, we both walked downstairs to the door.

"You think we'll have school tomorrow?" asked Tiffany.

"Maybe you will, but I damn sure ain't goin'," I replied.

Tiffany smiled at me before kissing me on the lips once more.

"I love you," said Tiffany.

"I love you, too" I replied.

I watched Tiffany walk off. As I watched her go, I observed how her butt switched from side to side as she walked. I could do nothing but smile, 'cuz that was my booty. Shortly after she walked away, I saw my father's car pull into the driveway. My dad got out the car and came into the house.

"Hey, son. How was your day?" my father asked me.

"Not too bad, Dad," I said to him.

"That's good. Well, I brought home cheesesteaks for dinner."

"You know, Dad, I think I'll eat mine tomorrow. I'm just gonna go to bed."

"Are you alright, son? You never...ever...turn down a cheesesteak."

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. I'm just tired." I turned to walk back up the stairs. I smiled to myself as I walked. "Really, really tired..."

  
  


END OF CHAPTER SEVEN


	8. The Consequences of Trying To Be A Hero

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Consequences of Trying To Be A Hero

  
  


It was a Saturday afternoon. You know, the cliche kinda Saturday afternoon with the children playing, and the ice cream truck riding down the street playing his little ice cream music (well, in my neighborhood, he plays Jay-Z, but you get the idea). Well, anyway, I was on my way to see Tiffany, my lovely and talented girlfriend. Now, as fate dictates, every time I decide that I'm going to do something enjoyable, something just has to jump in the way and screw it all up. In this case, it was four guys on the corner arguing. Nothing new to me, I see it all the time. Here's the problem: the argument escalated into a fight, and within about two seconds, everybody had drawn guns. It was two against two, and two of the guys were in the process of backing up while firing. The worst part was, there were kids all over the place, and any one of them could have been hit. I ducked into an alley and changed into my costume, then I took to the rooftop.

Two of the fools that were shooting decided that it would be a good idea to run around while shooting. In fact, they ended up running to where some kids were playing. I knew that those kids would get hurt, but what the hell was I going to do? There was no time to think up a plan as to what I would do, so I just leapt off of the roof. Then, as I fell, I fired a web at a nearby lightpole. I swung in an arc over the street, where a little girl was sitting on her bike, about to get caught in the crossfire. I snatched her with my free arm and pulled on the webline, pulling my body up into another arc and landing on the other side of the street. I placed the girl down and saw that she was staring at me, probably in an attempt to comprehend what the hell I was.

"Go home," I said to her.

The little girl ran off, so I turned my attention back to the fight. As if I wasn't even standing there, the four fools kept their shootout going. I jumped towards the two closest to me, spread my legs in a midair straddle, and kicked both of them in the sides of their heads. The two guys on the other side of the street ran toward me with big smiles on their faces.

"Thanks for takin' them punks out for us, man," one of them said to me.

"Damn, that's a bangin' costume! Who you ride wit'?" the second one asked.

I wanted to say something very ignorant at that point. But I couldn't think of anything. So, I slapped the second guy in the face.

"Hold, what's good wit' you?" the first one said as he drew his gun on me. I grabbed his hand and crushed it, along with the gun.

"Don't think for a second that I'd ride wit' any of you punks," I said before slamming my fist into his jaw and sending him flying. I grabbed the second guy by his shirt and lifted him up. "Do you realize that there are kids on this block? You could have killed them! What the hell were you all out here shootin' for?"

"That guy...he was tryin' to talk to my sister..."

"And?"

"I don't want nobody talkin' to my sister, man!"

"You were willing to kill children, just because some guy you don't like was trying to talk to your sister?"

"I wasn't even aimin' for them kids! They got in the way!"

"You piece of shit, what did you think was going to happen?"

I slammed the punk down on the ground, and then I took the gun that he dropped and shoved it in his mouth.

"I should kill you right here, motherfucker," I said to him.

That's when my danger sense went off.

"Freeze!" somebody yelled from behind me.

Turning my head, I could see three police cars behind me, with several officers standing there aiming at me with their guns.

"Put down the weapon, now!" one of the officers ordered.

I dropped the gun and tossed the guy a few feet away from me. Then I turned to the police.

"Remove your mask and lay face down on the ground!" the same cop yelled.

"What are you, stupid? Don't you see these assholes layin' here? They could have killed every kid out here! What the hell are you arresting me for?" I asked.

"This is your last warning!"

"....Fuck it..."

With that, I fired a web at the lightpole and pulled myself onto it. Just as I was about to leap to the building across the street and leave, my danger sense pounded me in the head. That's when I felt the bullet.

Imagine somebody taking a very hot rock and ramming it through your skin and then making it burn your flesh on the inside. That's what it felt like. The bullet pierced the fabric of my costume, followed by my flesh, and settled inside of my right arm. I lost my balance on the pole and fell back to the ground. The impact from hitting the ground almost knocked me out, and of course there was still the bullet that was lodged in my arm. I turned onto my stomach and struggled to rise to my hands and knees. It was like fire was stuck inside of my arm. Several of the officers converged upon me and were screaming orders that I could barely hear. My head was spinning, and my danger sense was going in eight directions at once. All I knew was that I had to escape.

As I stood up, I lifted my left hand in a backfist and sent the nearby officer flying. Before any of them could begin shooting, I leapt up and kicked the next officer in his temple, used the kick to propel myself, and tackled the next officer to the ground. Finally, I performed a handspring, with one hand of course, and landed on the side of a building. I climbed to the top as the other policemen began to shoot at me.

Once I made it to the roof, I sat back and examined my arm. Blood was oozing from the wound and quickly making a crimson pool on the roof. Needless to say, I was pissed off. I didn't do a damn thing to anybody, but the cops just up and decided that I needed to be shot. What the hell was I going to do? It wasn't like I could go home and tell my dad that I had just been shot. On top of that, the bullet was still in my arm. How the hell was I going to get it out? By now, my arm had gone limp, and the pain was spreading. I lowered myself back down into the alley to retrieve my clothes, and then I headed in the direction of the one person who could help me.

*********

By the time I made it to the door, I was almost ready to pass out. My vision was getting blurry, and the pain was only getting worse. I knocked on the door and waited. After a couple of seconds, Tiffany's mother opened the door.

"Rob? What's wrong?" Melinda asked me.

"Ms. Melinda...is Tiffany home?" I asked her.

She looked as if she were going to respond, but I noticed her eyes trailing downward. I looked down and could see that blood was dripping out the sleeve of my shirt and making a puddle on the floor.

"What happened to you?" she asked as she ushered me into her house.

I couldn't respond. At this point, all I could think about was the pain. Melinda ended up taking me to her bathroom.

"Take off your shirt," she said. I did as she told me and managed to lift my shirt over my head. She gasped at the sight of my wound and reached for some peroxide and some bandages.

"Wait..." I said. "The bullet's still in there..."

Just then, I could see somebody standing in the door of the bathroom.

"Rob?" It was Tiffany. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Tiffany, call 911," said Melinda.

"No," I said before she could get the phone. "I didn't get shot...Spider-Man did..."

"Oh...well, I'm not going to let you bleed to death," said Melinda.

"I can get it out...Tiffany...a knife...get me a knife..." I said.

"Are you serious?" asked Tiffany.

"Yeah...please..."

Tiffany reluctantly walked away, and when she came back a few seconds later, she held a kitchen knife in her hand. I reached for it, and then I looked down at my arm. I didn't have the strength to lift it so as to examine the wound, so I had to prop it up on something.

"Hand me...that waste basket..." I said to Tiffany.

Tiffany moved the basket toward me, and I placed my right arm upon it. Holding the knife in my left hand, I searched for where the bullet might be. My danger sense kicked in again, although rather than warn me of danger, it was doing something new now: it was showing me where the bullet was. I could see in my mind where the bullet was in my arm. Using my mind to guide me, I guided the blade through my skin until I could feel the hard piece of lead. It hurt like hell to have to move this sharp knife through the inside of my arm, but at this point I really had no other choice. The bullet was stuck in something, so I had to dislodge it. I rocked it back and forth with the knife until finally I knocked it loose. Finally, I used the knife to pick it out. The bullet fell out of my arm and landed on top of the basket. After that, all I can remember is dropping the knife and passing out.

*********

Don't believe what you see in comics. If you fall asleep in extreme pain, you will almost certainly wake up in even worse pain. In my case, the only thing that I had to ease the pain was the fact that a beautiful woman was in the room with me. I was in a bed with white sheets, with a teddy bear on each side of my head. On the other side of the room, Tiffany was sitting at a desk and writing something.

"Watcha writin'?" I asked.

"Hey, how you feel?" asked Tiffany as she approached me and knelt at my side.

"Like I just picked a bullet out of my arm with a knife," I replied. 

"That was crazy. You had me scared as hell, you know."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Remind me to apologize to your mom for bleeding all over your floor."

"Yeah...guess who had to clean that up..."

"I'm sorry, baby." I took her hand and kissed it.

"What I want to know is: Who managed to shoot Spider-Man?"

"The cops."

"Why were you fighting the cops?"

"Because the cops are all a bunch of idiots with guns. I was in the middle of attempting to do a good deed, and I got shot for it."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I expected Tiffany to say something, but there was silence. I opened my eyes to look at her. She was staring at the floor with a downtrodden look upon her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Rob...maybe you should stop being Spider-Man..." said Tiffany.

I had to sit up after hearing that one.

"Wasn't it your idea in the first place?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was, but...I never thought about how dangerous it could be. When you first told me about your powers, it was like you couldn't be beaten. But I didn't expect to see people who could control electricity, and I didn't expect you to get shot..."

"I also got in a fight with a seven foot tall lizard."

"Rob, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"It's just that...you might get hurt again..."

"I ain't gonna lie to you, this hurts like hell. But I'm still alive."

"But what if you're not alive next time?"

"Tif, don't worry about me, alright? Rob's not gonna get hurt, and neither is Spider-Man."

"You better be extra careful out there, you hear me?"

"I told you, I'm gonna be fine..."

"And you think just being told that is going to make me feel better?"

I really didn't know what to say. After a moment's thought, I lay my head back on the pillow. The pain was still fresh, and I did not want to sit up for too much longer. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"I promise you, nothing will happen to me," I said to her.

"How can you promise me that, Rob?" asked Tiffany.

"I don't know what I have to say to convince you, but nothing is going to happen to me, okay?"

There was silence. I heard Tiffany rise and walk away. I opened my eyes, and she was gone. As if the pain in my arm wasn't enough, imagine the pain in my heart after what had just transpired. Moaning in pain, I slowly rose from the bed. I didn't want to admit it at the time, but I was being an asshole. In retrospect, I can definitely see that. I figured I should go find Tiffany and apologize, but before I left, something caught my eye. On the other side of the room was her desk, and on that desk was a tiny pink notebook. I went to the desk and sat in the chair in front of it. Apparently, this was her diary. There were entries written to the middle of the book, and the last entry was not complete. I guessed that this was what she was writing when I woke up.

'Diary, I think I need you more than ever right now.

I felt like the luckiest woman in the world when I woke up this morning. I knew that Rob was going to come over today. It took me the longest time just to figure out what I was going to wear. I wanted to look beautiful for him. I wanted to share my body with him again, just like the other day. Trust me, I didn't even care if Mom was home! 

But then I got a little worried. I looked at my clock, and he was twenty minutes late. I thought it was nothing. Maybe the trolley broke down. Maybe he had to do some chores for his dad. Maybe he had to stop a bank robbery on the way over, you know? But I wasn't prepared for what happened when he got here.

I heard someone knocking at the door, and Mom answered it. She didn't call me, so I figured it was somebody for her. So I'm sitting here, still waiting for Rob to show up, when I notice a red spot on the floor. I went over to it and saw a trail of blood leading from the front door to the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom, and there was Rob, bleeding all over the floor. My head was spinning. I wanted to cry so badly when I saw him, but I didn't. Even now I feel like crying, but I can't.

I feel like this is my fault. When I found out he had those powers, I pressured him into going out and acting like some kind of superhero. This isn't a cartoon or a comic book. This is real life, where there are no superheroes. People get hurt, and because I wanted to act like a little kid, my boyfriend got hurt. I love Rob with all my heart. I'm so afraid I'm going to lose him. I don't want to lose him like I lost Dad. For the first time in my life, I don't feel like I'm alone. If I lost him, I don't think'

That's where the entry ended. If my heart weren't as hard as it was, I may have cried at that moment. I turned back a few pages, and then I saw another entry.

'Diary, you are not going to believe what I'm about to tell you.

I lost my virginity today. I always told myself that I would wait until I was married to have sex, but I never expected to fall in love with anybody as soon as I did. Rob is everything I could ever ask for, and that's without superpowers. Even though he was tired, he lasted all day long. I can't wait to see how he performs when he's rested. I know how he feels, though, because I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed now. I just wanted to let you know.'

I couldn't help smiling to myself. I could satisfy a woman. I was the man. I turned back another few pages.

'Diary, help me.

The last two days have been a living hell. I can't explain to you how alone I feel right now. My daddy is gone. I don't know what to do. We got a call yesterday saying that he had been shot four times. He was in the hospital, and the doctors were trying as hard as they could to save his life. Mom and I were in the hospital the whole time, hoping and praying. When we weren't doing that, the police were busy asking us questions like whether or not Daddy had any enemies. They didn't know if it was just a random shooting or if it was intentional. But I know the truth. Rhino killed my father. Ever since Mom and Dad stopped using drugs, he's been harassing them, saying that they owe him money. I know he killed my daddy, but what am I supposed to do about it? I just feel empty right now. I'm going to bed, but I know I won't sleep.'

There was some discoloration on this page, as if the paper had been wet from tear drops. The impact of what I had just read was stronger than any bullet. This was why Tiffany was so worried about me. I had no idea what had happened to her father, nor did I know that she felt responsible for what happened to me. I certainly didn't blame her, but in a way I could understand why she felt the way she felt. I felt like a special breed of asshole at this point, having put her through what I did. I turned her diary back to the last entry and exited the room.

In a room across the hallway, Melinda lay sleeping. I quietly walked past it and peeked into the bathroom, which was empty. I continued walking until I reached the living room. There was a rocking chair in the center of the room that had its back to me. I could hear quiet sobbing from the chair. Moving forward, I could see Tiffany. She was holding two pictures in her hands. In her left hand, there was a picture of three people. I recognized one person as her mother, and the other was Tiffany, although she was much younger. With them was a dark-skinned man with a thick beard and a broad smile, who I assumed was her father. They were at Disney World, and Tiffany was wearing one of those hats that looked like Mickey's ears. In her right hand, there was a more recent picture of Tiffany and her father, smiling and hugging each other. A tear fell from her eye and landed on the picture in her right hand, squarely on her father's face. I circled around her and stood facing her. Her attention left the pictures and moved to me. She looked away, as if she was ashamed to let me see her cry, and she placed the pictures on a nearby coffee table. I knelt in front of her and rose my good arm so that I could wipe a tear from her face. She slowly began to look back at me with red, tear-filled eyes. I wrapped my left arm around her shoulder and pulled her toward me. She wrapped both arms around my neck and squeezed. Tiffany cried softly on my shoulder. I could feel her body shuddering under me, and it made me feel terrible. I felt like I was the cause of her sadness.

"Baby, I'm sorry..." I said to her.

Tiffany pulled away and looked me in the eyes.

"For what?" she asked.

"For...for everything...I treated this like it was a game...but there are real consequences to what I do. I never really thought about it responsibly."

"What are you saying, Rob?"

"I never stopped to think about who I would affect by putting on that costume. I never thought about you, and for that I am truly sorry."

"You don't have to apologize..."

"Yes, I do. If you want me to give this up, I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"I couldn't ask you to do that. I mean, this is something you have to do, right?"

"Not if it means hurting you."

"You're not hurting me, Rob. I just want you to be happy. If you feel that you need to keep doing what you're doing, I'll support you. Sometimes you might need somebody to talk to when it comes to the whole superhero thing."

"Yeah, I guess so..."

"That, and you're gonna need somebody to sew you a new costume."

I smiled a bit and sat on the nearby couch. Tiffany rose from the rocking chair and sat to my left on the couch. I put my arm around her while she lay her head on my shoulder. She turned on the TV, and we watched videos on BET for a couple of hours. Where I was at the moment, it made the gunshot worthwhile. 

The music was playing, but I could barely hear it. I was busy thinking about Tiffany. How could I mean so much to her? To be honest, it wasn't an idea that I was accustomed to. I mean, there weren't many people who really gave a damn about me in the world. To find somebody who genuinely did was refreshing, and yet scary at the same time. I still felt like Spider-Man had to exist, but I would have to utilize a little caution in the future. There was a woman who cared about me, and I would not worry her ever again.

There was something else on my mind, though. I had never known that her father died, and furthermore, I had no idea that Rhino was involved in it. If I could find a way to prove his guilt, I would do so. If that didn't work, then I would simply employ my own brand of justice. Even still, Rhino was in jail for the time being, at least.

It was about nine at night when I decided to return home. The pain was still there, of course, but at least my stomach was full, as Melinda had ordered cheesesteaks for us. She took me aside shortly before I left.

"Rob, you have really got to be more careful," said Melinda.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied.

"I can't believe I actually know somebody who runs around in a costume and gets in fights with cops," she said with a chuckle. "But don't forget that there are a lot of people who worry about you, myself included. And don't forget about your father. He's a good man. He doesn't deserve to have to see his son dead on the ten o'clock news, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," I repeated.

"Okay. You take care now," she said as she gave me a hug.

"Thank you for everything," I replied.

"It was no problem. Now go home and stay there. No superhero stuff."

I had no choice but to chuckle at that. "Yes, ma'am."

Tiffany walked me outside of the apartment after that, and we stood in the doorway.

"You don't have any plans tomorrow afternoon, do you?" asked Tiffany.

"Nuh-uh. Why?" I replied.

"I might be able to sew you a new costume by tomorrow. I could bring it by if you want."

"Tif, you don't have to do that."

"I know," she said as she gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "But I want to."

No matter how much I wanted to act cool at the moment, I know that I was grinning from ear to ear. Tiffany stepped back into the apartment and closed the door. I could only think of the day in general which, all things considered, could definitely be categorized as a good day. I took my time exiting the building and walking down the street.

Unfortunately, my arm was still in numbing pain, and it only got worse as time went on. I ended up catching the trolley home. The trolley operator was staring at my arm as I payed my fare. Looking down, I could see a red stain on my sleeve. So much for being inconspicious, huh?

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

Of course, that was a lie. The pain was gnawing at me like a rat gnaws at a rotting corpse. I walked to the back of the trolley, sat down, and closed my eyes. The whole ride home I tried to ignore the pain, but it was no use. I would go home and get some sleep, and hopefully when I woke up the next morning, I would feel better. But in the back of my mind, I knew that I would, in contrast, feel much worse when I awoke.

  
  


END OF CHAPTER EIGHT


	9. Family Reunion pt 1

CHAPTER NINE: Family Reunion, Part 1

  
  


No, my arm has not gotten better. Yes, Tiffany has sewn me a new Spider-Man costume. No, my father did not find out about the incident. Yes, the police are searching for Spider-Man right now. No, I did not want to go back to school the following Monday. Yes, I did go back to school the following Monday.

Looking back, I can see why I wouldn't have been able to talk my dad into letting me stay home from school. I mean, I couldn't exactly tell him that I had been shot by the police, you know? And if I had even attempted to ask him if I could stay home, then I would have to hear another one of his speeches about the importance of education. And so, I just decided to shut my mouth and go to school. 

You know what really sucks? I had to sit the day out in gym, and you know how much I love to play football. As a result of my not playing in the day's game, Brian was completely annihilated by the opposition, because I was not there to save his butt. Oh well, watcha gonna do, right?

Things were pretty uneventful until lunch that day. I was at the table with Brian, while Angel was at the opposite side of the lunchroom with Andre. Ever since the Electro incident, Andre had been playing the role of tough guy, claiming that it didn't even hurt when Jason sent him hurtling a good thirty feet through the air. Of course, his dick-riding friends were all backin' him up. I just wished that Jason had succeeded in frying him.

Brian and I were eating and talking, when out of seemingly nowhere Tiffany came to the table and sat beside me.

"Rob, you gotta get out of here," Tiffany said quickly.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Because Mark is here with like twenty guys lookin' for you," she replied.

"Are you serious?"

"I just saw them coming in through the auditorium entrance and they're on their way here. I just got done running here to tell you."

I wanted to curse aloud at that moment, but I didn't. I had to think of something. Putting on the costume was not an option, and I didn't want to fight with Mark, especially if he had twenty guys with him and I was in the lunchroom in front of a bunch of my classmates. Before I could come up with a solution, my danger sense went on high alert, and I could hear the marching of twenty sets of feet moving toward the lunchroom. I stood up from my seat and looked to the entrance, and sure enough, in came Mark and his merry band of assholes. They all did a quick search of the room before Mark's eyes fell upon me. They all started walking towards me. With little time left, I turned to Tiffany and Brian.

"Get moving. Both of you," I said to them.

Tiffany and Brian hesitantly moved away from me, leaving me to stand against Mark and his boys alone.

"You thought I wasn't gonna get you back, pussy?" Mark screamed at me before swinging and connecting with my jaw.

This was quite possibly the hardest decision I ever had to make: I had to stand and let somebody kick my ass. Trust me, the decision did not sit well with me. I probably could have dismantled all of them, but how would I explain that to everybody in the school? Almost immediately, all of his boys converged upon me. Do you realize that when you're gettin' your ass kicked by twenty people, it's actually pretty hard to distinguish a fist from a foot? Don't believe me? Then go outside and provoke twenty people and get them to jump you and then I'll say, "I told you so".

The really fucked up thing was that my danger sense was going in about twenty directions at once, but what was I really gonna do? Here's the worst part: I could actually envision a knife in my mind, and it was being aimed toward me. I tried to move and avoid the blade, and it ended up grazing me on my right arm, not far from where I had been shot. Immediately after that, I found my head being stomped into the ground not once, not twice, not thrice, but...well, whatever the word for four times is. After my attackers had decided that I had received a severe enough beating, they all backed off of me, except for Mark. 

"I told you to stay out of this, didn't I? I warned you, didn't I? But it ain't over. You better believe that we're gonna get your bitch, too. And your pretty little friend Angel, and your boy Brian. But before that, we already set up a little somethin' for you," said Mark.

"What are you talking about?" I managed to ask him.

"See, I had to look up some information on you, hero. And I think I know who really means the most to you, whether you wanna admit it or not. And we got her, too."

"Who?"

"We got your mom, bitch," he said as he stomped my head into the floor once more.

"What...my mom...?"

"Yeah, you know, that whore that gave birth to you. You wanna know where the slut is right now? She's fuckin' my brother for some crack right now. Now I'm gonna say this to you once, and if you don't get it, tough. If you ever fuck with me or any of my boys again, I'm gonna kill your mom. I'm gonna slit the bitch's throat and cut out her heart and mail it to you. Understand?"

I tried to rise to my feet, but I was dizzy as hell and in intense pain. I made it to a foot and a knee and grabbed him by his shirt.

"Where is she?" I demanded of him. He responded by punching me in the face and sending me back to the floor.

"Let's go," he said to his boys. 

I could hear them assaulting a few school police officers on their way out. Tiffany, Angel, and Brian ran to me and tried to help me up. They were all talking to me, but I couldn't hear a word they were saying. I was still trying to comprehend what I had just heard. Was Mark telling the truth? What if my mother was really with him? Had he kidnapped her, or was she with him on purpose, just trying to get another hit? What was I going to do? I made it to my feet and stumbled out of the lunchroom, past my classmates, past the security guards, past everybody. I had to be alone to organize my thoughts. I ended up in the bathroom, running water into my hands and trying to wash away the blood on my face, as well as the blood from the knife wound on my arm.

Much of the day had been spent in the nurse's office, although I didn't feel as though I really needed to go. I was more focused upon what Mark said, and what I would do. The school wanted to call my dad and tell him what happened, but I told them that he was still on a business trip, thus preventing them from calling. He really didn't need to know the details of what was going on. At the end of the day, I headed to my locker to get my stuff. Tiffany was already waiting for me when I got there.

"Rob, I was so worried..." Tiffany said to me.

I didn't say anything back. I just opened my locker and started taking my stuff out.

"Rob? What's wrong?" she asked.

"My mom," I said without turning to look at her. "He has my mom."

"Oh my God...what are you going to do?"

I looked her in the eye at that moment, as if to tell her that she already knew the answer. I then turned back to my locker.

"Oh no...Rob, you're not gonna do what I think you're gonna do..."

I said nothing back.

"Rob, please, just call the police or something."

"And what if she's there of her own free will? You and I both know Mark sells crack, something that my mom has been addicted to for years. She's probably there just to get high. That's no cause for a kidnapping case."

"Well, then tell the cops that he's selling crack! They'll still arrest him!"

"They'll do nothing," I said as I closed my locker. I slung my bag over my arm and walked away. "But Spider-Man will put an end to this..."

*********

I was already in costume and waiting for my moment. The problem was, I had to wait about two hours for the school personnel to vacate the main office. As the janitors cleaned various areas of the school, I found myself having to find new hiding spots. At about five that evening, the principal and secretary were just exiting the office. I was perched on the ceiling, watching them both. Just as the principal was closing the office door, I managed to slip inside undetected. I heard her lock the door, and then she and the secretary walked away. I dropped to the floor and started searching through the cabinets for student records. Once I found them, I started shifting through them. I went straight for the "W" section, for "Wilkins, Mark", and his file was indeed there. The address was on his index card. I slipped the card into my bag and exited through the window.

*********

Mark lived in North Philly, where a lot of crack dealers operated. The problem was, he wasn't home. I snuck into his house through a window and looked around, but there was nobody home. I paused in thought, trying to figure out where I might be able to find him. That's when I felt the tingle on my neck. The knob on the door was turning. I instinctively leapt to the ceiling and aimed my hand toward the door, ready to engulf his head in webbing and suffocate him. But it was not him. Instead, a dark-skinned, middle-aged woman walked in, carrying groceries. It was most likely his mother. Odds were, she wouldn't know where I could find him. I would have to look elsewhere. As quietly as possible, I moved toward the window and slinked out of it.

I was running along the rooftops of North Philly for about an hour, just checking for suspicious behavior. It was getting dark, and I had found no sign of Mark. However, I had no intention of giving up. I leapt to the edge of a building and stared down at the street. Down below, barely concealed by the shadows of a building, I could see a man and a woman. The woman was on her knees, performing oral sex on the man. The woman looked vaguely familiar. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of who it might be. The woman pulled her head back momentarily, and it was just long enough for me to get a good look at her face.

"Mom..." I said aloud in disbelief.

I leapt straight down and let myself fall to the ground. Even after I landed, I found myself staring in disbelief. It had been years since I had actually seen my mother, and to see her like this after all this time was devastating. I was so distracted that I had barely reacted in time to my danger sense. I turned around, but I was too late. I felt a baseball bat crack me in the side of the head. My body hit the ground immediately.

"Well, how about that? They said that you been tryin' to bust some dealers around here. I'm glad I listened. Now I get to be the one to kill you."

I recognized the sound of his voice. Slowly, I looked up at my attacker and tried to focus upon him to make out his face. It was exactly who I thought it was...Mark.

  
  


TO BE CONTINUED...


	10. Family Reunion pt 2

CHAPTER TEN: Family Reunion Part 2

"Aiyyo, come get a look at this..."

"Who's this faggot-ass nigga?"

"What the fuck is he supposed to be?"

These are the words that I heard, although I couldn't tell who was uttering them. All I knew was that Mark was standing over me with a baseball bat, and there were now at least two other people standing with him. I managed to stand up, although it was difficult trying to keep my balance. My head buzzed as Mark swung at me a second time with the bat. I was able to catch it in my left hand and completely destroy it. After that, I lunged for Mark and squeezed his throat with both hands.

"You bastard...I'll kill you..." I threatened.

Unfortunately, I was so distracted in my rage that I did not notice my danger sense, which was warning me about Mark's friends. By the time I had noticed it, they were already in the process of beating me to the ground. After a few punches, kicks, and stomps, I was on the ground.

"So this is Spider-Man..." one of Mark's friends observed.

"This is the guy who took out Rhino and Shocker?" another one asked.

"Yeah, but I don't see how. Still, Rhino's gonna be happy to know we took him out," said Mark.

I tried to make it to my feet again, but a couple of feet to the head and midsection put a stop to that notion. Mark and his partners proceeded to beat the hell out of me while I made futile attempts to fight back. At one point I was able to stand and punch Mark in the face. Imagine my shock when Mark was still standing afterward. All the punch had done was give him a bloody lip. He returned the punch with one of his own, and then I was overcome with various fists and feet.

Now, my friends, let me ask you a question. Do you remember how this story began? Remember where I left off before telling you about my past? Well, here we are. My mask had just been removed, my mother had seen them unmask me but decided to turn her back on me for drugs, and I was dizzy and in a lot of pain. And, on top of that, I was now staring down the barrel of a gun.

I was ready to give up. As I heard the click of the gun, I began to think about the bulk of the events of my life. What few memories I had of my mother were not good ones. I could remember coming home from school one day and seeing her strung out on the couch after snorting coke while I was gone. I could remember her beating me in the face with a belt on my seventh birthday. I could remember the day she left my father and turned my world upside-down. So why was I here, risking my life for her? Every child should have a mother and father, or at least mother and father figures. Guardians, perhaps. A loving aunt and uncle. A nurturing grandmother and grandfather. Every child should have both components to life. I would give anything to turn back the clock and do it all over again, only with a mother this time.

But things would not be that way. Within that split second that my life flashed before my eyes, I had already had a change of heart. I didn't want to die. No, I wanted to kill...

Mark was standing on the side laughing as his friend was getting ready to kill me. I wasn't about to have it. I rose and grabbed the guy by his forearm, and then I twisted his arm and broke it at the elbow. Before he could scream in pain, I grabbed him by the face with both hands and squeezed. Mark was staring at me in shock as I did the deed, but I didn't care. I removed one hand from his face and moved the other to his throat. With my free hand, I struck him in the face repeatedly, watching blood fly with each punch. After the sixth punch, I released him and watched his body drop. He was dead before he even hit the ground. Then I turned to Mark.

"I shoulda' known it was you, pussy! You better believe your bitch is dead!" Mark screamed as he attempted to run off.

I would not allow it. I fired a web and snared Mark at the ankles, then I yanked it and let him fall on his face.

"Stay where you are," I said to Mark. "I'll be killing you shortly."

Mark's other friend attempted to attack me from the side, but I saw the punch coming. I caught his fist, grabbed him by his shirt, and rose him into the air in a bench press. I held him in the air for a moment, and then I slammed him as hard as I could onto the ground, head first. Seeing his brains splattered along the pavement was a good indication that he was dead.

The guy who had just gotten his dick sucked from my mom was attempting to pull his pants up so he could come fight me. Rather than give him the chance to initiate the fight, I leapt toward him and planted my foot into his chest. His body hit the ground after the kick. I fired two webs at his feet to pin them down, and then I grabbed him by his shoulders and sat him up.

"What...what the fuck you think you doin', man?" he asked me.

"You want to make my mother suck your dick? I got a better idea..."

With all my might, I pushed his upper body downward, breaking his ribs, so that he was bent over to the point that his penis was now stuck in his mouth.

"Suck it yourself." I fired another web on top of his back which pinned him to the ground, therefore preventing him from sitting back up. Whether it was the fact that his body was bent in an inhuman fashion, or that his mouth had just been filled with his own penis, either way the fool would die of asphyxia. Now, there was only one more person for me to kill. I turned to my intended prey and began to advance.

"Now, I'll kill you, too," I said to my mother.

My mom...no, Rhonda...was backing up slowly. Eventually her back hit the wall, and she had nowhere to go. She was staring at me with pleading eyes, as if to beg for her life. I was ready to punch her head into the wall.

"Baby...baby, you know I love you..." Rhonda started saying to me.

"Shut up!" I demanded. "What had I ever done to you? I always loved you, in spite of everything you'd ever done to me...even now, I damn-near killed myself trying to help you...but I should have known better..."

Rhonda dropped to her knees and held her hands up. I was glad she knew what I intended to do to her.

"Rob, please...I'm your mother..."

"No, you're not! You're just the woman who gave birth to me! Am I supposed to be grateful for that? I never asked to be born! I never asked for this life! For the last ten years, not a day has gone by that I didn't think about ending it all...you know I tried it once? Took a bunch of Tylenol, washed it down with Vodka...don't know why I survived...so I can't kill myself...but you...you're different..."

"Rob, please..."

"I can kill you...but you're right. Maybe I owe you that much respect. Since you gave me life, I'll take yours quickly. I wouldn't want you to suffer, even if you made me suffer for as long as you did."

"Rob, I never meant to do this to you...please, don't do this..." Rhonda pleaded through tears.

"Stand up. For once in your life, stand up," I demanded of her.

She slowly stood up, tears still streaming down her face, and then she lay her back against the wall. I rose my fist, but for some reason I hesitated. I stood there with my fist in the air, trembling, ready to kill her on the spot. But...I couldn't. I just couldn't do it. I just didn't care anymore. Maybe because I hadn't done it, my mother had just assumed that I automatically forgave her. She attempted to embrace me, but I pushed her back against the wall, and she fell back to the ground. I looked her straight in the eye.

"You are dead to me, woman. Whatever love I once had for you is gone now," I said to her.

Turning back, I could see that Mark had just gotten done cutting the webbing from his ankles with a knife. I was just about to approach him, when my danger sense suddenly started screaming in my ear. A high-pitched scream pierced my ears, almost drowning out the buzz of my danger sense. I turned around and saw that the scream came from my mother. From the shadows above her, an arm had just dropped. But it was no normal arm. This arm was very muscular, with very sharp fingernails, almost like claws. But that wasn't the only thing that I noticed about the arm. It was also....green.

The green arm reached out of the shadows from above my mother and grabbed her at the throat. She screamed quickly before the claws became embedded in her throat. Blood poured out of the open wounds in her neck. I was standing in utter disbelief, just watching, trying to comprehend what the hell was going on. And then, in one split second, the hand whipped away, and her throat along with it. She fell to the ground and held her hand out to me. I felt completely empty at that moment. I felt neither happy nor sad, just empty. She was still holding her hand out to me, and she was attempting to say something. Whatever she was saying was being muffled by the blood pouring out of her mouth. I stepped toward her and listened even more carefully. That's when I heard what she had to say.

"I'm sorry..."

How was I supposed to react to that? An apology? Of all things, an apology? Now? She was still holding her hand out to me. Reluctantly, I knelt beside her and took her hand. I could almost feel her life slipping away.

"I'm sorry..." she repeated once more. With that, she was gone.

I released her hand and slowly stood up straight. My mother's blood was dripping from the shadows above me, from the claws of whatever had just killed her. I stared into the shadows, waiting for whatever had done the deed to reveal itself so I could kill it. I expected it to come out and attack me. However, I did not expect it to speak.

"Coward..." spoke the voice from the shadows. The voice did not sound human. When it spoke, it sounded like two people were speaking at once. The voice was incredibly deep. I could almost feel it as well as hear it. "I would have expected you to finish the deed, but you've proven yourself to be incredibly disappointing."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You don't remember me?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"You should be thanking me, boy. I did what you were afraid to do."

"Why? What did she do to you?"

"Nothing at all. But you...you've been a hindrance in my plans. Don't you realize that you were a beta test? I should let you know, you're failing miserably. Although I must admit, your abilities are quite impressive."

"What is it you want with me?"

"Are you really that dense, Jordan? You damned fool...one would think that you would have caught on after Electro nearly killed you..."

"Electro...no...Osborn!"

"So you're not as stupid as I thought...I would say that I'm impressed, but I'm afraid that I'm not. Well, I should let you know that this test is far from over, Jordan. There is still much work to be done."

"Damn you, Osborn, I never asked for any of this!"

"It's not like I made you wander into my lab, Jordan. You brought that upon yourself. Anyway, this little exercise is finished. I think I'll take my leave now. Good day, Jordan."

"You're not going anywhere, you son of a bitch! You killed my mother!"

I fired a web up in an attempt to catch Osborn, but my webbing only hit the wall. I could see him leap out of the shadows and way over my head. He was already on his feet by the time I had turned to face him. He was standing over Mark, who was still on the ground, cowering in fear.

"This one looks promising...perhaps you could be another guinea pig." Osborn reached down and grabbed Mark by his throat and then lifted him into the air. This was the first time I had actually gotten a good look at him. However, this was not Osborn as I remembered him. He did not look like a man. Now he looked more like some kind of...green goblin. He stepped back into the shadows, and all I could see was a pair of yellow eyes staring back at me.

"One last thing, Jordan. I suggest you pick your mask up off the ground and take it with you," said Osborn.

With that, he and Mark were gone. I was left alone with several dead bodies, including that of my mother. I felt emptier than I had ever felt in my entire life. It would be about twenty minutes before I finally retrieved my mask and left. And when I reached home that night, I would not sleep. I would sit and stare at my wall without thinking. Eventually the sun would rise, and I would still be awake. And I would still be alone.

END OF CHAPTER TEN


	11. Faith

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Faith

I had no idea where I was. All I knew was that it was dark, raining, and I was drunk beyond belief. I was wandering aimlessly, clutching onto the bottle of beer for dear life. It was all I had in the world, or so I felt. Obtaining it was not difficult. All I had to do was go to a local corner store. If you look old enough, they won't even bother to ask for ID. Honestly, I don't think they care anyway.

I thought that maybe I had seen a cat dart into an alley and try to find shelter from the rain. I was about to join it myself. Shit, the rain was hard, and it was like getting slapped in the head with precipitation. I stepped to the left where I thought I saw the cat go, and came to find out there was no alley there as I walked directly into the wall. Bouncing off of the wall, I ended up walking sideways across the street. Once I made it to the other side, I bumped into some steps and ended up landing ass-first on them. I just sat for a moment, trying to figure out where I was and how the hell that alley managed to dodge me and I knew I was going to kick its ass when I found it. Come to think of it, I'd have to kick that cat's ass too, 'cuz it probably was in cahoots with the alley.

I went for another swig of the liquor, but when I put my lips to the bottle, nothing came out. Things had just gone from bad to worse. Now my lifeline was gone. I think I may have been sobbing at that point, but I dunno. It may have just been rain running down my face. All I know is that I heard a door open and close behind me, and my neck started to buzz lightly. I turned around, and there was a woman with her hand extended as though she were about to tap my shoulder or something.

"What are you doing out here?" the woman asked me.

I didn't respond. I was too confused to do so.

"Robert? Is that you?" the woman asked.

Now I was even more confused.

"Come on. Let's get you out of this rain," the woman said to me.

With the little presence of mind that I did have, I placed the empty bottle on the ground and tried to play it off, like I had no idea why it was there. Whoever this woman was, she knew my name, which meant she probably knew my dad, and I did not need anybody telling him that they caught me with a bottle of beer. I slowly rose from the steps and followed the woman into the building.

There were a bunch of seats leading up to the front of whatever building we were in. The woman led me to the nearest one and sat down, and I sat down beside her. My vision started clearing up a bit, and it was then that I realized that I was sitting inside of a church.

"Oh, Rob...why were you sitting in the rain like that?" the woman asked me.

"I don't...I don't know..." I replied.

"I'm sorry, you probably don't even recognize me, do you? I'm Patrice Reed."

The name did not sound familiar.

"Where do I know you from?" I asked.

"Well, we only met once, at your mother's funeral. I was in charge of the church rehab that she was in."

"My mom was in rehab? When was this?"

"Well, she had been with us for a couple of months, but then she disappeared. Nobody had seen or heard from her until her passing."

I saw her. But I couldn't say anything.

"How are you holding up, Rob?" Patrice asked me.

"I'm okay..." I blatantly lied.

I had been staring at the floor ever since we entered the church, but looking up, I could vaguely recognize her face. She was a pretty, heavy-set black woman of light complexion, with long braids and two big hoop earrings. She was one of the many people who offered their condolences to me at my mother's funeral.

"For what it's worth, your mother was a strong woman. She really did try hard to recover," said Patrice.

"I wouldn't know..." I noted out loud, although I didn't really mean to.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see somebody coming out of a side door. It was a very well-dressed man who wore glasses and had black hair that was starting to gray at the temples. The man glanced toward where we were sitting and saw us.

"I thought you left already, honey," he said to Patrice.

"Not yet, Keith. But I'm glad you're here. I think this young man needs to speak to you," said Patrice.

I really wanted to scream, "No I don't!" but I didn't for some strange reason.

"Well, you know I always have time for a young person in need. I'm Keith Reid, the pastor of this church. What's your name, son?" the man named Keith asked me.

"Robert...Robert Jordan," I replied.

"I know that name from somewhere...and you look familiar. Have we met before?" he asked me.

"This is Rhonda Jordan's son," Patrice informed him.

"Oh yes, yes, of course. How have you and your father been since then?" asked Pastor Reid.

"We're holding up," I replied.

"That's good to hear. Well, what can I do for you?"

"Honestly, I don't think I really need to be here. I was just passing by. In fact, I should be getting home right now. I'm sorry to bother you." I rose and began to head for the door, but I could hear the pastor calling to me.

"One second, Robert," he said to me. He walked up to me, placed a hand on my shoulder, and looked me square in the eyes. "You look troubled."

"I'm not," I replied.

"Are you certain?"

"Positive."

"Have you spoken to anybody about your mother's death, Robert?" asked Pastor Reid.

"I don't need to speak to anybody about my mother's death," I said to him.

"You know nothing good could come of keeping your feelings inside. If you have something on your mind, you should share it. And you know that you could always pray for guidance when you're unsure about things."

"Prayer?" I asked, almost in a laugh. "Like that's gonna do any good..."

I noticed that the pastor had a very worried look on his face. That was bad, as it was a sure sign that he wanted to talk. It didn't even take my sixth sense to figure that one out.

"Come, sit with me," said Pastor Reid as he lead me back to a seat. We both sat down, and Patrice rose.

"I'll leave you two to talk. If you need me I'll be in your office, honey," she said to Pastor Reid.

"Alright, dear," he replied to her. She walked away, and then he turned back to me. "Now, tell me what's on your mind."

"I don't have anything on my mind," I replied.

"Is that so? Well, tell me this: Why do you think prayer won't help you?"

"Trust me, pastor, you wouldn't be happy with my answer."

"Try me."

"Alright, fine. You really want to know why I feel that way? Because I don't think there is a God, okay?"

"Why do you think that?"

"God is supposed to love us, right? Well, why does he let bad things happen to people he's supposed to love? What did we ever do to deserve this? Why should we suffer day in and day out and just assume that it's all a part of some great plan?"

"God does not mean for us to suffer, Robert. Whatever His plan is, man just cannot predict. All we can do is live the way He would want us to, and in the end all will be answered. In the end there will be no pain."

"I'm not living 'in the end'. I'm living right now, and right now all I see is people suffering for no reason! Why should we have to put up with that?"

"I notice you keep saying 'We', Robert. Is this about people in general, or could it be that you feel as though you've been mistreated in particular?"

"...I don't know..."

"Is there anything about your life that makes you particularly unhappy?"

"Does it matter?"

"I think it does," said Pastor Reid.

"Look, I haven't always felt this way. My dad used to have me in church every Sunday, but I made the conscious decision to stop going. I just don't see a point to any of it anymore."

"You don't see a point to any of what?"

"Life...I just don't see a point to life anymore..."

"Do you feel like you can change your life, in order to make it worthwhile?"

"Why should I? I'm eighteen years old, and no matter how much I have tried to make something of my life, it always just turns around and gives me more drama. I'm just...tired..."

"You speak as though you've already reached the point where you're supposed to know what you're going to do with your life. Trust me, you're far from there. You still have the rest of your life ahead of you."

"I'm not sure if I want to live the rest of my life. I don't see it being much different than it already is."

Pastor Reid and I were silent for a moment. I didn't know what to say, nor did I know what he was going to say. We were both staring at the floor. After a minute or so, he looked up at me.

"You know, your friend Angel comes to my services every Sunday morning," said Pastor Reid.

"Yeah, I know."

"She worries about you."

"Don't see why."

"Even before your mother's passing, she's been worried about you. And she's not the only person. Do you realize that your father sits here with me and prays for you every time he comes here?"

"I didn't know that..."

"And your mother, God bless her soul, she really was trying hard, Robert. I know you didn't know that, but she really was trying to do the right thing. She was trying hard for you and your brother. She told Patrice and I that she only wanted to stay clean so she could make her boys proud."

"Please, don't get me started on my worthless brother. Even if she had made it through the program, Aaron wouldn't have cared either way. It's people like him that made my mother what she was. And I honestly don't see what good faith did, because she died on the streets, the same way she was living her life. Forgive me for not being the most pious man in the world, but I see very little reason to believe that there is a God who loves me."

"I don't expect you to just turn around and change your way of thinking, but what I do want is to help you, because the way you're thinking right now is self-destructive."

"I'm sorry, pastor. I just don't think it's going to happen. Sorry for wasting your time."

I rose from the seat and headed for the exit. I could hear the pastor rising behind me.

"If ever you should need guidance, or just someone to talk to, I will be here," he said to me in an almost reassuring tone. I stopped at the door and looked back at him over my shoulder.

"Thank you," I replied quietly before walking out of the door.

I did not bother to catch the bus home, nor did I webswing. The latter wasn't really much of an option, as I did not have my costume on me and certainly wouldn't want to be seen swinging around in my everyday clothes. Not that it mattered. I hadn't worn that costume for a month. More specifically, I hadn't worn it since the night my mother died, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever wear it again.

When I finally made it to my house, I could see somebody standing on my porch. Whoever it was had been standing under an umbrella. I stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked up at whoever was under the umbrella. I recognized her instantly.

"Why are you standing out here?" I asked.

"Waiting for you," Angel replied.

"Your boyfriend wouldn't like that."

"This isn't about Andre, Rob."

"You're gonna catch a cold. My dad would have let you in, you know."

"Nobody answered the door. I figured he was still at work."

"Well, I don't feel like standing out here. You can come inside if you want."

I walked past Angel, opened the door, and stepped in. She followed me inside, placed her umbrella beside the door, and sat beside me on the couch. I closed my eyes and lay my head back, trying to ignore the pounding headache that I had acquired on the way home.

"So what did you come for?" I asked.

"I'm worried about you, Rob," said Angel.

"So I've heard. Had a talk with Pastor Reid today."

"Did he tell you why I worry about you?" asked Angel.

"Nope," I replied.

"Rob, you are probably the nicest person I have ever met. You always put your friends before you, and whether you want to admit it or not, you have always been willing to help other people, even if it meant giving something of yourself. But that's just the problem...I watch you do things for others, but at the same time, I can tell that you're really hurting. You deserve to be happy, Rob, and I'm worried that something bad is going to happen if you don't try to pursue that happiness."

"I don't want you making a big deal over me, okay? Seriously, I hate it when you worry like this over me. You got your own shit to deal with."

"That doesn't mean I'm just gonna forget about you, Rob! You're my best friend! Damn it, don't you realize how many people love you? There is a reason I'm worried about you! I love you! You're like a brother to me, and I don't like seeing you in pain."

"What makes you think I'm in pain, Angel?"

"Do you realize you've hardly spoken to me or Brian since your mom died? We don't even see you in the lunchroom anymore. Even Tiffany doesn't see you at lunch. Isolating yourself is not going to help."

"I just need to be alone sometimes."

"That's not all. Now, I'll be the first to admit that you hardly pushed yourself in class, but at least you used to make a little bit of effort. Now you do nothing. You won't even look me in the eye when I speak to you."

"That's because my head hurts," I replied.

"Open your eyes," said Angel.

I slowly opened my eyes to look at her. There was fire in her eyes. I was almost frightened.

"Believe me when I tell you that I would give anything in the world for you, Rob. If I could just give you a bit of happiness, I would be satisfied. Brian feels the same way. So does your dad. And I bet your mom felt the same way."

"To hell with her!" I exclaimed, standing up. "That bitch did nothing for me! She took my childhood from me, Angel! She did not want me to be happy!"

"That wasn't her, Rob! She was not herself when she did those things. That's why she was trying to get better."

"Then why did she die running the streets all over again?"

"I can't tell you that, Rob, because I don't know. What I do know is that you are still here, and there are still a lot of people who are willing to help you. I understand that this sadness isn't something you're going to be able to get over easily."

"That's just the thing, Angel. I'm not sad," I said as I sat on the floor on the side of the couch. "I'm empty. I don't feel a thing anymore. All my life I felt like things would all be better if my mother died, but now that it's actually happened, I don't know what to make of the situation. Now that it's happened, I realize that I never really wanted her to die. But if that's all that I ever wanted out of life, does that mean that my life has no meaning? It's like...the life I thought I wanted was a lie, and now that I realize that, I don't really have any more reason to keep going..."

Angel sat beside me and hooked her arm over my shoulder.

"You know there are people who will help you find the purpose you're looking for, right?" asked Angel.

"Yeah..."

"Rob, I want you to come to church with me on Sunday."

"Why?"

"Because you might be able to find some answers."

"I got nothin' to wear," I said.

"You don't have to get dressed up, Rob. Wear whatever you want to wear. You could come looking like a bum if you wanted to."

"You don't."

"Of course not! I gotta crush the game! Everybody knows I'm the best dressed female in that church!"

I found myself laughing a little bit. I turned to look at her and smiled.

"I believe you," I said.

"So, you gonna come to church with me?" asked Angel.

"I'll consider it."

"That's all I ask."

Angel rose from where we were sitting and walked back to the door to retrieve her umbrella. I rose to walk her to the door.

"I better get goin' before my dad loses his mind and starts searchin' the city for me," said Angel. "Don't be a stranger, Rob. You need me or Brian, don't hesitate to call us."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," I said.

"It's okay. You know we always had to save you from yourself."

Angel walked out the door, lifted her umbrella, and walked down the porch to the sidewalk. She turned and waved to me, and I waved back as she walked off. I closed the door, walked back into the house, and sat on the couch. There were far too many thoughts circulating in my head. I was still very confused about everything. I figured that I could just go to bed and try to sort it all out later. Just as I was about to stand up, I noticed a book sitting on the coffee table. It was black leather, with gold letters on the cover. The letters read, "Holy Bible". I stared at the book in deep thought for a moment. Then I picked it up, continued to stare at it. Then I began to read. I would read for hours. My dad would walk into the house, see me reading it, and not disturb me. But I know he smiled when he saw me. I would continue reading until eventually I would fall asleep on the couch.

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN


	12. Kingpin of Crime pt 1

CHAPTER TWELVE: Kingpin of Crime

PART ONE: The Return

It's been two months. Two months since I've seen Norman Osborn. Two months since I wore my costume. Two months...since my mother died.

Every Sunday for the last month, I've been attending church with Angel. I still haven't found the answers I was looking for. But then, I guess I don't have anybody to blame but myself for that. I shouldn't have expected to find them in the blink of an eye. Life's just like that sometimes. I keep telling myself that the answers will come soon enough.

I've been trying to occupy my mind with other things, to keep my mind off of my mother. I've been reading a lot lately. Been listening to a lot of music (most of which I purchased from Superhustler). I even started studying. I figure I may as well bring those grades up before school's out. We have about four months left. It'd make my dad happy to see that I'm not at the bottom of my graduating class, after all.

Even though it's only March, Prom Fever has already swept my school. Everybody's been saving up money for the prom. All I hear anymore is "What color suit are you wearing?" and "Are you going in a limo?" and so on and so forth. It suddenly occurs to me that my black ass needs to get a damn job if I'm going to pay for anything prom related. To that end, I don't even know if I'm going.

I find myself pondering this while I'm sitting alone at lunch one day. I've been planning on asking Tiffany about the prom, but I haven't seen her all day. Just as I began to wonder where she was, Brian and Angel enter the lunchroom and sit down across from me.

"Rob, glad you're here. Got a new CD for ya," said Brian.

"...the hell? I just bought one from you this morning..." I replied.

"I know. I made another one in the computer lab," he said with a wily grin.

I try to brush that thought aside and turn to Angel.

"Let me ask you a question. Are you planning on going to the prom?"

"Yeah, I'm going with Andre," Angel replied.

"How 'bout you, Brian?"

"Hell yeah! I'm going with Alysha. Where do you think all my CD money is goin'?"

"Hm..." I started to contemplate whether or not I wanted to go.

"Aren't you going?" Angel asked me.

"I dunno. I don't think I have any money to go. And anyway, I dunno if Tiffany wants to go. I wonder where she is, anyway..."

"When I saw her yesterday, she said she was feeling kinda sick," said Brian.

"Yeah? I hope she's alright..."

I continued to wonder about Tiffany and the prom for awhile. Nothing of much importance happened in school for the rest of the day. I made a mental note to call Tiffany when I got home.

After school that day, I decided to make a little detour. I headed downtown to Krass Brothers' Plus, one of the best places in town to buy a suit. I checked out a few suits, all of which were at least two hundred dollars. I figured I'd have to pay for my clothes, transportation, dinner, and the prom tickets themselves. That alone would run me several hundred dollars. For a minute, I actually considered putting my powers to use as a pro wrestler so I could earn some money. I quickly dismissed that idea.

Leaving the store, I headed home. As I sat on the trolley, I thought of my life and what it had become. This was a distraction, and nothing more. Thoughts of my mother still lingered in the back of my mind. I wondered about Osborn, too, and what he was up to. What exactly had he turned himself into? And what was he planning on doing with Mark?

When I got home, I attempted to distract myself from those thoughts again. I grabbed the phone and called Tiffany. After the phone rang a couple of times, she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe. You okay?" I asked.

"Hi, Rob. I'm not feeling too well," she answered.

"What's the matter?"

"I dunno. It's probably the flu or something. I've been feeling really sick the last few mornings."

"Want me to come over?"

"No, I don't want to make you sick too. I'll probably be back to school tomorrow, anyway. So, did I miss anything important today?"

"Nothing much. Everyone's just talking about the prom and everything. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to ask you..."

Suddenly, I heard Tiffany gasp.

"Oh my god!"

"What is it?"

"No...this isn't fair...this isn't fair..."

"Hey, I'm not too happy about the whole prom thing either..."

"No...Rob...turn to channel six..."

I thumbed my remote and turned my television to channel six. The news was on. Turning up the volume, I listened carefully.

_"And in other news, Jerome 'Rhino' Waller was acquitted of all charges and released from prison today. Sources cited lack of evidence as the reason for his release. Waller was, as you'll recall, accused of several counts of murder, as well as drug trafficking and extortion. He's also been accused of working with a so-called 'Kingpin of Crime', whose real identity remains a mystery. In any case, all charges against Waller have been dropped and he is now a free man."_

I stared at the TV in shock. I was responsible for Rhino being arrested in the first place. And now he was being released. As much as it upset me, I knew that it must have broken Tiffany's heart. This was the man that had killed her father. I knew exactly how she felt. My mother's killer was free, too.

"How...how can they let him out...? He killed my father..." Tiffany said angrily.

"I put him away...this doesn't make any sense..." I was just as dumbfounded as she was.

"He killed my father..." she repeated.

"Listen, baby, it's gonna be alright..."

"No...it's not...even you couldn't stop him..."

I didn't respond. She was right. I put him in prison, and months later, he's walking the streets again. I didn't know what to do.

"Listen, Rob...I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Yeah, okay. I love you baby."

Tiffany sighed. She paused before responding.

"I love you too, Rob."

I put the phone back on the hook and stared at the TV. I was sickened by this. How the hell was Rhino back on the streets after what he did? He deserved to rot in a cell for the rest of his life. Even I couldn't make him pay for his crimes. And hearing that report on the news confused me even more. Who was this "Kingpin of Crime" that they were talking about? I remembered hearing a rumor or two about a big boss that ran all the crime in the city, but that wasn't believable and it never became anything more than a rumor.

I wanted to know. I wanted to know who exactly this Kingpin of Crime was, and if he had anything to do with Rhino's release. But what could I do? I hadn't done anything worthwhile with my abilities and hadn't even put on the costume in two months. I had been afraid to even look at it for some reason. I never even had a good reason to put it on. But this...this was for Tiffany. For her, I would do anything. She deserved justice.

I pulled a suitcase out from under my bed and opened it. In it was my Spider-Man costume. Not the same one that I wore on the night of my mother's murder, though. That one was damaged and stained with blood. Tiffany made me a new one, even though I hadn't planned upon wearing it ever again. She said it was "just in case." I stared at the mask, and it stared back at me. Was I really ready to put it back on? Just looking at it made me think about my mother. It made me think about Osborn. But then, thinking about Osborn made me think about Rhino. They were both murderers who were running the streets. That thought alone helped me make my decision. I stood up, holding the costume in my arms and staring into the mask.

"This isn't for me," I said as I began to put my costume on. "This is for Tiffany."

I put on my mask and stared out of the window. My choice had been made. I jumped out of the window, fired a webline, and began to swing into the city.

I was Spider-Man again.

It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it again. Aiming the weblines, predicting what angle I would be swinging at and adjusting my body in a bunch of twists and turns. It was a rush. I released a line and let my body freefall for a few seconds. The ground rushed up at me, and I fired another line and yanked myself back into the sky. I let go of the line and spread my arms like a bird spreads its wings. I felt free. I felt rejuvenated. For the first time in months, I felt alive. I fired another webline and let myself swing past several buildings before finding myself clinging to the side of an apartment building.

Crawling around the building, I searched for a specific window. When I found the window I wanted, I peeked inside. There was a very familiar young woman in the apartment. She looked kind of sad. I smiled weakly and tapped on the window. The young woman looked up at me and jumped, and then she stared up at me in awe. I waved to her, and the young woman smiled and opened the window. We were now staring into each others' eyes, though I was upside down.

"Hiya, Tif," I said happily.

"Rob? What are you doing?" she asked me.

"I'm on the case, baby."

"You...put on the costume..."

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Because I love you, of course."

Tiffany continued to smile at me. She pulled my mask up to my nose and kissed me. We kissed for a few moments, strange though it may be that I was upside down, and then she pulled my mask back down. She took a step back and winked at me.

"Go get 'im, Tiger," she said.

I smiled under my mask, fired a webline, and was off.

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE


	13. Kingpin of Crime pt 2

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Kingpin of Crime

PART TWO: Dance with the Devil

Pretending to be a spider is fun. Well, it can be fun, given the right circumstances. Not that I particularly want to start eating flies or anything, but stalking prey can be pretty amusing. Case in point, I was now staring down at an old friend of mine. My old buddy Shocker was up to his old tricks. I could have sworn I told him to stop selling drugs in my city. Yet here he was, standing in the same alley that I beat him up in last time, selling crack yet again. I was hanging upside from a web twenty feet above his head. Naturally, he had no idea I was there.

There's a reason I'm here to see Shocker. He and Rhino are buddies, you understand. So my plan is pretty simple: first I slap Shocker around, and then I find Rhino and bring him to justice. And, if possible, I'll figure out who the hell this Kingpin of Crime is, let alone if he actually exists. Then, hopefully, I can get home in time to do my homework and figure out how the hell I'm gonna afford a suit for the prom.

I watch as Shocker's customers walk out of the alley. He lights up a cigarette, then stands there and starts counting his money. Now's my time to strike. I lower myself on a webline silently, and I find myself right behind him.

"Those are bad for your health, you know," I comment.

He jumps, screams, and turns toward me. As he turns, he drops his money and scrambles into his pocket so he can whip a pocketknife out. I slap the blade out of his hand, grab him by the collar, and yank on the web, pulling myself high into the air and bringing him with me. I ball up the web in my hand, holding myself twenty feet in the air. I don't say anything for a second. Nah, I'm gonna let him register this situation in his mind. Much to my surprise, Shocker actually starts crying. This makes me smile under my mask.

"Shocker...didn't I tell you to get a real job?"

"Wha...what the _fuck,_ man!"

"Didn't I tell you to stop selling this shit in my city?"

Shocker continued to scream as he stares at the ground, which is quite a distance under us.

"What did I say would happen if you didn't stop selling your poison around here?"

I let him go. The maggot screams all the way down.

Huh? Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna turn him into street pizza...not yet, anyway.

I relax my grip on the webline, letting myself fall until I'm five feet off the ground. I reach out with my free hand and grab Shocker's ankle. His body flips upside down and his body jerks. The only thing keeping him off the ground is my hand on his ankle.

"I feel like being generous, Shocker. I don't think I'm gonna kill you today," I say.

"Don't kill me...don't kill me..." he stutters.

"Shut up! Don't think you're getting out of this that easily, though. You're gonna give me some information."

"Whatever you want, man! Just don't kill me!"

"I have a very simple question. You, being a very simple person, are going to give me a very simple answer. Simple, ain't it?"

I let go of Shocker, letting him fall the remaining five feet. He crashes into the ground and rolls onto his back, groaning in pain. As soon as he opens his eyes, he finds himself staring into the blank white holes on my mask. I'm hanging on the web directly above him now.

"Where's Rhino?"

"K...k...k..." he stammers.

"In English..." I say, losing my patience quickly.

"...Kingpin..."

Ah, an interesting answer.

"Who is the Kingpin?"

"If I told you..."

"He would kill you, I know. That's what they all say. Now tell me who he is."

"You don't want to fuck with him, man...I ain't sayin' that 'cuz I like you, either! You just don't wanna fuck with him! Ain't no costume or superpowers gonna save your ass!"

"That's interesting, Shocker. Now give me a name before I rip your face off."

"Alright, look, if I give you a name, you gotta promise me protection."

"I don't make deals with drug dealers. C'mon Shocker, I don't have all day."

"I'd let you kill me before I told you, man! If I tell you, you can't let him know you got his name from me!"

I stare at him blankly for a few seconds. I'm getting nowhere this way. I decide to play it his way.

"Alright, he won't know you're a spineless stool pigeon. Now what's his name?" I ask.

"Talbert...John Talbert," he replies.

"And where can I find this John Talbert?"

"Dude lives in a hotel...the Sheraton on 19th and Race...Room 119."

"Why would he live in a damn hotel?"

"He stays in a different hotel every week. Doesn't think he needs to buy his own house. But he has safehouses all over the city. Even I don't know where they are."

"And how exactly do you know all this, Shocker?"

"I hear this from Rhino. Kingpin'd never tell me any of this shit, but he trusts Rhino and Rhino tells me."

I grab Shocker by his shirt and pull him toward me.

"You bullshittin' me, Shocker?"

"No, I swear..."

I release my grip on him and slowly raise myself on the webline until I'm lost in shadow.

"If I find out you're lying, I'll be back."

I leave Shocker alone in the alley. I'm sure he's pissed his pants.

I make my way downtown until I find the Sheraton. It's gotten dark at this point, which will definitely help me out. I'm gonna have to do the stealth thing before I make my presence known. I know nothing about this Talbert guy, so I'm gonna have to play it safe. Not only that, but I haven't been in costume for months and I still need to get used to this.

Once I reach the hotel, I climb down the side of the building until I reach a balcony. I drop onto the balcony and look around. It suddenly hits me: I have no idea what room this is. I have to find Room 119, but how am I supposed to tell which room that is from the outside? I cautiously open the sliding glass door and enter the room...

...only to walk in on a young couple having sex. They stop when they spot me and stare at me silently. Their jaws hit the floor at the sight of me. I just stand there, gazing awkwardly back at them.

"Uh...I'm with the hotel...they told me you had ordered room service...my mistake...could you please point me in the direction of Room 119?"

The young woman in bed pulled the sheet up to cover herself and pointed to the left.

"Um...five rooms that way..." she replied.

I gradually sidestep past the young couple and make my way to the door. They follow me with their eyes until I finally exit their room. That was smooth, Spidey. Very smooth.

Turning to my right, I hear a click from the next door over. I jump to the ceiling and cling to it. The door opens, and a maid exits. She begins to stroll down the hall past the room I just left. I crawl along the ceiling behind and above her, and watch as she approaches a door and knocks on it. It seems to be my lucky number. Room 119.

"Mr. Talbert? Are you in?" the young maid asks.

"One second, darling," I hear from inside the room.

A second later, the door opens. My eyes widen as I see the guy in the doorway. He fuckin' _huge!_ I can barely see past him into the hotel room. He's a big black man, with the broadest shoulders I've ever seen, and he's got humongous muscles all over. The man's gotta be a good six feet, six inches tall. His hands are as big as his head. What else can I say? He even makes Rhino looks small, and Rhino is not a small man.

"Martina, you're right on time," Talbert says to her. His voice is too damn deep to be human. I can almost _feel_ him speaking.

"Of course I am, Mr. Talbert. I'd never leave you waiting," the maid replies.

Okay, it doesn't take my sixth sense to see what's going on here. I watch as Talbert steps back, and Martina enters the room. They both walk into the room, their backs to the door. I slip into the room before the door can close. Talbert suddenly turns, wraps his arm around Martina's waist, and plants a kiss on her. While they kiss, I dash across the wall and jump into the closet, closing the door and watching them both through the cracks. After a few seconds, they stop kissing.

"Just give me one moment, my dear. I have some company," says Talbert.

"No problem, Mr. Talbert," she replies.

Talbert walks into another part of the room. Which sucks, because now I can't see him. But I can still hear him.

"Looks like we're going to have to put our business on hold, Rhino. We'll talk tomorrow. But you're a free man, now. Go out and have some fun," says Talbert.

My heart starts pounding. I'm almost tempted to jump out there and start throwing punches. Rhino is in the room with me, and I'm trapped in the closet. Suddenly, that stupid R. Kelly song starts playing in my head. I shake my head to stop letting myself get sidetracked and continue listening.

"I don't know, man. Word on the street is there's somebody lookin' for me," says Rhino. "The guy in the red suit's been askin' questions about me."

"Just so we're on the same page, which guy in the red suit are we talking about here? The one with the webs or the one with the horns?" asks Talbert.

"The one with the horns," answers Rhino.

Okay, I'm really confused now. There's a guy in a red suit with horns hunting after Rhino? What exactly has he been smoking on?

"Oh, but don't worry. I'm definitely lookin' for that motherfucker Spider-Man. I saw his face, man. I just don't know if I could recognize him if I saw him again. But when I find him, I'm gonna make him pay for puttin' me in lockup..."

"Hey," Talbert says, almost chuckling, "Relax. You're not going to worry about any of that tonight. I want you to go to the club tonight. I gave the Enforcers a call today. They're going to make sure nobody tries anything stupid with you."

"Thanks, Mr. Talbert. I owe you big for this, man."

"You're one of my best employees, Rhino. Getting you out of jail was as easy as a game of Monopoly. Now, if you'll excuse me, Martina and I would like some privacy."

"You got it, Mr. Talbert."

I continue staring through the cracks. I watch as a huge set of feet walk past me.

"Oh, Rhino, one more thing," says Talbert.

"Sir?"

"After you meet with the Enforcers, do me a favor and pick up Tracy on your way to the club, won't you? She mentioned wanting to go tonight, but I don't want her going without you and the boys being there."

"No problem, Mr. Talbert. I'll make sure your daughter is safe."

And suddenly the story gets a little more interesting. I watch as Rhino leaves the room. Talbert walks back toward Martina.

"Sorry about that, my dear," he says before ushering her into the next room. A few seconds later, I hear things that I honestly cared not to hear. I doubt you really want me to get into detail here. Bottom line, I bolted out of the closet toward the door and got the hell out of there as quick as I could.

I made my way back outside, perched on the side of the hotel, and watched as Rhino handed a slip to a valet. Moments later, the valet came back with a jet black Hummer and handed the keys to Rhino. Rhino climbed into the Hummer and pulled away from the hotel. I fired a webline and leapt off of the wall, gradually swinging over the Hummer. After completing the swing, I released the web and let myself fall until I landed on top of a car that was behind Rhino. I jumped off of the car's roof and landed on top of Rhino's Hummer. He wasn't aware that I was on top of the car.

I crouched low and started to contemplate what I should do. If Talbert was planning on getting Rhino some protection, it would probably be best if I took him out on the spot. I got ready to tear the roof off of the Hummer and wring Rhino's neck, but then something stopped me. I felt something that I hadn't felt in months. The danger sense was buzzing lightly. Then it suddenly started to flare. I had almost forgotten about it, and more importantly, I had almost forgotten how to react to it. Just as I began to look up to see where the danger was coming from, I felt a foot slam into my face. My body was knocked from the Hummer. As I fell through the air, I grabbed onto a nearby lightpole, flipped, and crouched on top of it. A split second later, something...like a billy club or something, came out of seemingly nowhere and hit me in the nose. I fell from the pole and landed on the top of an eighteen wheeler that was passing by. I turned onto my side just in time to see a pair of red boots land in front of me. I looked up at whoever it was that attacked me.

I think I may actually be losing my mind. Whoever this guy was who just hit me, he was standing in front of me in a red suit with horns on his head. There was a double "D" on his chest. He had a mask covering the top half of his face, and the lenses were bright red. The billy club he had just hit me with was detached into two pieces and connected by some kind of cord, and had just retracted to make one long staff. The red guy with the horns on his head twirled the staff over his head and then entered a stance.

"Looks like my source was right," he said. "You're in league with Rhino. Which means you're working for the Kingpin. Which means I'm going to have to kick your ass."

I stand up and look him over. It's kind of weird. This is my first time meeting another nut in a costume. I'm trying really hard not to laugh.

"Red jammies, horns...so I'm guessing you're supposed to be the Devil, right?" I ask him.

"Close..." he says as he smirks at me.

Moving faster than I would have expected, he smacks me across the face with his staff, knocking me back down.

"Daredevil..."

END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN


	14. Kingpin of Crime pt 3

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Kingpin of Crime

PART THREE: The Enforcers

Alright, I'm pissed. Actually, a little bit more than pissed. I'm really fuckin' angry at this point.

I hopped back up to my feet. The guy in the devil suit jumped a few inches back, and he and I found ourselves staring each other down on top of an eighteen wheeler as it rolled down the street. I hadn't really taken him seriously on account of him being dressed like a fan at a comic book convention, but the guy could move pretty fast. I figured he probably hadn't taken me very seriously either. Well, I was gonna make him regret that.

I jumped toward him and extended my left leg. One kick would be enough to knock this guy out. But...shit, I dunno how this happened but...he dodged it. He bent backwards and I ended up flying right over him. I landed behind him and turned with a haymaker. Without even turning back to look at me, he raised his staff over his head and behind his back, blocking my punch. Before I could react, he pulled on each end of the staff, pulling it into two pieces with a cord connecting the two halves. He wrapped the cord around my arm, and before I knew it, he had me flying over his shoulder. I was slammed onto the top of the truck and found myself staring up at Daredevil as he retracted the cord and placed his staff onto his belt.

In less than a second, Daredevil lifted his leg and attempted to bring his foot down upon my throat. I caught his foot in both hands and twisted, sending him spinning through the air. I stood back up and turned to take advantage of the situation, but I wouldn't have the chance. Just as quickly as I sent him flying, he landed on one hand and one foot and was already running towards me to attack again.

I didn't know who this guy was, but he wasn't like most of the guys I had fought in the past. This guy had some skill. I found myself blocking punches that were being thrown much faster than any normal human could throw them. I was able to jump just in time to dodge a foot sweep, and I retaliated with a dropkick to Daredevil's chest that sent him flying off the top of the truck. I was sure the fight was over.

Well, that's what I get for making assumptions...

I swear this guy was mocking me. As he flew through the air, he pointed his staff toward a nearby pole and pressed a button on it. One half of the staff shot out with the cord behind it, and the cord wrapped itself around the pole. Daredevil flew toward the pole, swung around it once, and then ended up soaring towards me before spinning again and hitting me in the side of the head with a sidekick. This time, I was the one to be knocked off of the truck.

I managed to cling onto the side of the truck and crawled to its underside. Maybe I could trick Daredevil and then sneak up on him. Crawling under the truck, I made my way to the rear and then climbed back up to the top. He was standing at the front of the truck with his back to me. I lunged toward him, but then my danger sense went off. Everything seemed to slow down, but even then, I still wasn't prepared for this. Daredevil turned toward me before I could even attack him and kicked me in the stomach. I ended up falling backwards and caught myself with a backflip before landing a few feet away from him on top of the truck. We went right back to staring one another down.

"How the hell do you keep doing that?" I asked.

"You have more important things to worry about. Such as telling me what I want to know," he replied.

"If you want to know how to bite somebody else's style, you don't need my advice for that. First of all, I came up with the whole costume thing. I came up with wearing red. And I came up with swinging on poles, goddamnit! You couldn't come up with one original idea?"

Before I knew it, Daredevil was after me again. He ran toward me and started throwing punches, and all I could do was block them.

"What's your connection to the Kingpin?" he asked as he continued to throw punches.

"What're you, stupid?"

"Answer me!"

I ducked under an attempted right cross, pivoted backwards onto my hands, and brought both feet up into Daredevil's abdomen. Hopping back up to my feet, I struck him in the face with a left backhand, followed by a right cross. He attempted to roundhouse kick me in the ribs, but I managed to jump in time to avoid the kick and strike him with a kick of my own to the chin. This guy seemed to be able to anticipate my moves, but if I moved fast enough, I could strike before he reacted. I landed and hit him with a left hook to the ribs, then stepped behind him and elbowed him in the kidneys. He drew his staff, turned, and swung at my head. I ducked beneath his staff, then stood back up and hit him with a left uppercut to the chin. As he staggered back, I jumped over him and placed both hands on his shoulders, doing a handstand on top of him for a split second. I turned in midair and began to descend behind him. As I fell, I planted both feet into his back, sending him flying forward a few feet and landing on his face. I landed in a low position and watched him as he slowly stood back up.

"Listen, buddy. I don't know who your sources are, but they're dead wrong. I am not working for the Kingpin. I'm trying to take him down," I told him.

Daredevil stood there, staring at me. I had no idea what was going through his mind.

"...you're not lying..." he said, almost astonished.

"Of course I'm not lying, you jerk! You could have just asked me instead of hitting me with your stupid club!"

He continued to stand there in silence. Then, suddenly, he put away his staff and started to walk toward me.

"Listen, I owe you an apology..." he said.

"No kidding," I replied.

"Damn it...I forgot, he has a pacemaker...made it hard for me to tell if he was lying or not..."

"Um...what?"

"My informant. I should have known better than to trust that scumbag..."

"May I ask who this informant of yours is?" I asked him.

"Small-time hustler. You may have heard of him. Goes by the name of 'Shocker'."

That little fuckin' weasel...

"So Shocker said I was working for Kingpin, huh? Okay, I'll fix that little motherfucker later. Anyway, what's your beef with Kingpin?"

"He and I have...unfinished business. In the meantime, maybe it would be best if you and I pooled our efforts in fighting him."

"I don't know about that. I mean, you just tried to beat me to death with a big stick."

"At least you know you'll be working with a capable fighter."

I had to admit that Daredevil had a point. It would be nice to have somebody watching my back while people are trying to kill me.

"Why don't we discuss this somewhere where I won't get motion sickness?" I asked, indicating the eighteen wheeler we were still standing on.

Without a word, Daredevil jumped off of the truck, fired the cord from his staff, and made his way toward the top of a nearby building. I fired a webline and followed him. In a few seconds, we were both on top of the building.

"So, you got a plan?" I asked.

"Right now, I'm tailing Rhino. He's supposed to head out to Kingpin's club tonight and meet with the Enforcers," Daredevil replied.

"Yeah, I heard Talbert talking about that. Who are the Enforcers, anyway?"

"A group of tough guys who do some dirty work for him. They go by Ox, Montana, and Fancy Dan."

"Where in the hell do these guys get these names?"

"Don't underestimate them. They're formidable. Last time I fought them, Ox broke my arm. He's not the brightest guy in the world, but he's as big and strong as Rhino is. Montana's skilled with a whip, and Fancy Dan's a master of judo and an expert gunfighter."

"Hm...and I thought my webs were impressive."

"There are others who work for Kingpin that we may have to be wary of. Are you familiar with any of his employees?"

"Only Rhino."

"Well, if we're lucky, we won't have to deal with Bullseye or Typhoid Mary."

"More codenames..."

"Listen, this may all sound silly to you, but these are extremely dangerous people. Every bit of crime that goes on in this city has something to do with Talbert. Drug trafficking, prostitution, gun smuggling...you name it, he's into it. Petty crooks can't so much as snatch an old lady's purse without giving Talbert his cut of the money. Every pimp, prostitute, and hustler is an employee of the Kingpin. And some of these people are highly skilled assassins that Talbert pays very handsomely."

"Even the prostitutes?" I asked, almost joking.

"Mary is one of them. She doubles as a prostitute and assassin."

"...you're joking, right?"

"I wish I were. With that said, you may want to rethink whether or not you want to challenge Talbert."

"I have to do it. I made a promise to someone special that I would bring Rhino to justice, and as long as somebody like the Kingpin is around, that's never going to happen."

"Alright then. We're going to need some leverage against Talbert to actually take him down. We need some concrete evidence of his wrongdoing before we can stop him. I learned the hard way that running into his room and starting a fight with him is no way to beat him."

"Well, I was just gonna go after Rhino," I said.

"And then what?"

"...I dunno."

"Perhaps we can persuade him to tell us something interesting about Talbert."

Daredevil walked to the edge of the roof. Something about this whole situation didn't sit well with me, though. I wasn't quite ready to get started just yet.

"Wait...how do you know so much about Kingpin? How do you know about all of his assassins?" I asked him.

Daredevil slowly turned toward me.

"I used to be one of them."

I couldn't think of anything to say. We stared at each other for a few seconds, and then he turned back to the roof's edge.

"Let's go." And with that, he leapt off of the roof. Within a couple of seconds, he was swinging away. I jumped off of the roof and swung after him.

This, my friends, was quite possibly the most awkward moment of my life. Me and another guy were dressed in bright red costumes, swinging over the streets of Philadelphia on thin lines that were supposed to keep us from going splat all over the pavement. In a strange way, I welcomed the chance to meet a...I dunno what to call it...a kindred spirit, I guess. On the other hand, this could all be a trap and this Daredevil guy might actually be playing me for a fool. But for the moment, it seemed like a good idea to trust him. I guess you would call this a "team-up."

After swinging over a few blocks, Daredevil and I landed on a tall building and gazed down at a club across the street. The club was called Code Red. It had been built about a month previously and was already making good business. Only people with fat knots in their pockets could get into this place. I guess it made sense that Talbert owned the joint, then. We stared down at the building, watching as men and women in expensive clothing entered the building. The security detail was pretty tight, so I had no idea how we were going to get in. I turned to Daredevil, who was staring at two guards.

"So how are we supposed to get in there? I don't think we fit the dress code..." I said.

"Quiet..." he said, raising a finger.

He seemed to be listening to something, but to what, I did not know.

"Those two guards on the side...one of them is about to walk away..." said Daredevil.

"How do you know this?"

"He just told his partner he's walking away for a second to take a smoke break."

"...the hell? What, you read lips now?"

Daredevil just smirked a little.

"Something like that."

I watched the two guards, and sure enough, one of them walked away. I turned and stared in awe at Daredevil.

"Let's see if he has something to tell us," said Daredevil, and he jumped off of the roof.

Daredevil leapt along several buildings until he reached an alley. I followed behind him and looked down. The guard stepped into the alley and lit a cigarette.

"Too easy..." I said to myself.

I snagged the back of the guy's shirt with a web and yanked on it, pulling him all the way up to the roof. He dropped his cigarette and started to scream, until Daredevil punched him in the mouth. I kept him dangling over the edge of the roof, his legs kicking and searching for something to stand on and finding nothing but air.

"We want into the club," I said.

"I...I...I...I..." he stuttered.

"C'mon, let us in. We forgot our ID at home. Have a heart, buddy..."

"For crying out loud..." Daredevil sighed.

"What?" I asked him.

"Now is not the time for jokes. You want information, you get it the old fashioned way," he replied.

"And what's that?"

"Drop him."

"Wh...what?" the guard exclaimed.

"You seriously want me to drop this guy?" I asked.

"Yes," replied Daredevil.

"How is he supposed to give us information that way?"

"Y..yeah! How am I supposed to give you..." the guard pleaded.

"Shut up!" Daredevil roared in his face. "He works for the Kingpin, he deserves to be dropped!"

"I...I don't know no Kingpin, man! I just work here!" said the guard.

Daredevil grabbed the guard by the back of his neck.

"Liar!"

"Alright, man, alright! I know about the Kingpin, but I don't know who he is! I swear!"

"...okay, I believe you," said Daredevil.

"Lucky for you, buddy," I added.

"However, there are people in there who do know who the Kingpin is. We would like a meeting with them. Now it's my understanding that they have a private room in the club. Would you happen to know where that room is?" asked Daredevil.

"I...I don't even know who you're talking about!" said the guard, who was busy pissing his pants.

"We're talking about the Enforcers, dumbass!" I informed him. "We want to know where the Enforcers are, 'cuz my arm's getting tired and his suggestion to drop you is starting to sound like a pretty damn good idea."

"Alright alright, I'll tell you! They're on the top floor! Room 100! I swear! There's some girl in there with 'em! She's gotta be about seventeen! And Rhino's in there with 'em!"

Daredevil pulled the guard closer to him, so that they were face to face.

"Anything else you want to tell us?" asked Daredevil.

"...I wet the bed until I was eleven..."

"Okay, way too much information. Are we done here?" I asked.

"Yes, I believe we are," said Daredevil as he relaxed his grip and stood upright.

I lifted the guard into the air and dropped him on the roof at our feet. He slowly rose to his feet and stared back and forth between us.

"So...what happens now?" he asked.

"Now I knock you out so we can go into the club," I answered him.

"Damn man...okay fine, just...not in the face, okay?"

"Okay."

I immediately punched the guard in the face. He lost his legs and plopped face-first onto the rooftop. I walked to the edge of the roof and stared down at the club.

"Top floor, huh? Well, let's get goin'," I said before firing a webline and swinging toward the club.

I could hear Daredevil screaming, "Wait a second!" behind me, but I was already on my way. I was through following him. It was time to take some action.

That said, I'll admit in retrospect that the next thing I did was pretty dumb. Swinging toward the club, I extended my legs and crashed directly through the large window in front of me. I landed inside the club on the top floor as shattered glass rained down behind me. There were six people in the room, all of them staring at me dumbfounded. Two of those people were security guards, who stood outside of a large double-door with a big "100" over it. Those two guys ran toward me, drawing guns as they did.

I fired a webline, snagging the gun out of the one of the guards' hands and tossing it out the window behind me. He ran toward me and threw a right cross, which I easily dodged. I caught him with a right to the gut and knocked the wind out of him. He slumped to the ground at my feet and was out like a light. The second guard aimed at me, but before either of us could do a thing, something red appeared from behind me, whizzed past my head, and knocked the gun out of the guards' hand. I immediately recognized it as Daredevil's club. He ran into the room like a pissed off bull, tackled the guy to the ground, and punched his head into the floor four times. He stood up over the guard's unconscious body and turned to me.

"Are you retarded or something! What was the point of all that stealth if you were just gonna bust through the goddamn window!" he screamed.

"Fuck you! You were takin' too long!" I screamed back.

As we argued, I suddenly noticed that the other four guys in the room had drawn knives and were circling us. One of them attempted to attack Daredevil from behind. He simply backhanded the guy without turning to him and knocked him out.

"You're too reckless to be doing this! You'll end up getting yourself killed!" he said.

One of the other guys lunged toward me. Without turning to look at him, I extended my fist and punched him in the jaw, sending him flying into a wall.

"I can't sleep on this! What we need is action!" I yelled back.

The third guy stood behind Daredevil, and the fourth one stood behind me. They both charged toward us. Daredevil and I jumped toward each other, eventually soaring past one another, and we kicked both of our attackers in the chest, knocking them to the floor. Daredevil then turned to me.

"Well, if you want action, you got it. I'm sure the Enforcers have heard us by now."

Just as he said that, my danger sense started to flare. Maybe Daredevil had the same sense, 'cuz he was getting ready to move at the same time that I was.

"Down!" he yelled as he backflipped away from me. A bullet whizzed past the spot where he was standing. I cartwheeled away as bullets started to fly toward me too. They were coming through the door to Room 100. Whoever was shooting was firing wildly, probably hoping to take us out with a couple of lucky shots. We both found ourselves jumping around the room and trying not to get hit. Eventually the shots stopped. I found myself on the ceiling by the time I had finished dodging bullets. Next thing I knew, the door was knocked off of its hinges by a massive foot and flew across the room before slamming into the opposite wall. The guy who kicked the door down was a large Asian man who was roughly the same build as Rhino. A smaller Asian guy walked out, twirling a pair of pistols in his hands. The last guy, another Asian man whose build was somewhere between his partners, came out holding a whip. Behind the three of them was Rhino, as well as a young girl that I didn't recognize.

"Yeah," I said, hanging upside down from the ceiling, "I'm pretty sure they know we're here."

END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN


	15. Kingpin of Crime pt 4

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Kingpin of Crime

PART FOUR: Battle Royale

Okay, let's evaluate what exactly is going on here.

There's me, hanging from the ceiling.

There's Daredevil, crouched into some kind of weird martial arts stance that looks like it hurts like hell, his staff broken down into two parts, glaring at the Enforcers.

There's the Enforcers, three tough-lookin' Asian guys who probably want to do terrible, unspeakable things to us.

There's Rhino, who stares at me, just as I stare back at him.

And there's a girl beside him who's actually kinda cute, as inappropriate as it is for me to be thinking that right now.

So, getting my head back into the game, I leap from the ceiling, fly over the heads of the Enforcers, and tackle Rhino to the ground.

"You fuckin' bastard! You murderer!" I yell as I pound his head into the ground.

I was so focused on beating on Rhino that I ended up ignoring my flaring danger sense. Before I knew it, a rope was lashed around my throat and pulling my head back. Looking back as best I could, I saw the guy with medium build, holding a whip as taut as he could and strangling me with it. Before I could react, his partner, who was as big as Rhino, grabbed me by the top of my head. The guy with the whip relaxed his grip, and it fell from my neck. Before I could react, the guy who had palmed my head like a basketball turned and slammed my face into the nearby wall. He let me go, and I dropped to a knee. That hurt...a lot.

Next thing I knew, I heard gunfire. Looking up, I saw Daredevil running toward the guy with the pistols, crouching low to avoid his shots. He tackled the guy with the guns, and they ended up taking the fight down the hall.

Oh, by the way, I can't remember any of these guys' silly codenames, hence the vague descriptions. So bare with me, okay?

Almost as if on cue, Rhino spoke up.

"Montana, Ox, hold him off while I get Tracy outta here," said Rhino. "But don't kill him! I owe this motherfucker!"

I watched as Rhino turned toward the girl, who didn't seem to be phased all that much by all the fighting going on.

"Fuck that," she said, almost surprising me. "I wanna watch the fight!"

"So your father can kill me for puttin' you in danger? Bring your hardheaded ass on!" said Rhino as he grabbed the girl by the arm. I reached out and snared his ankles with a web, tripping him and making him fall on his face.

"You're not going anywhere!" I said as I drug him along the carpet toward me.

Just then, I felt the buzzing at the back of my neck again. This time, I was smart enough to move. I jumped away just in time to dodge a punch by the big guy...um...Ox, yeah that's it. As soon as I landed, the other one...Missouri...? Minnesota...? Oh, right, Montana! Yeah, that guy...Montana snapped his whip at me, narrowly missing my head. Ox ran toward me and began to repeatedly throw haymakers at me. I ducked and dodged as best I could, figuring I could just tire him out. But the dude must have been on speed or something, 'cuz he didn't let up.

After a while, I heard the gunshots from down the hall getting closer. Daredevil backflipped into the room, then leapt up and kicked one of the other guy's guns out of his hand. What was his name? Oh, right. Fancy Dan.

Getting tired of constantly dodging punches, I finally raised my hand to block a punch. Much to my surprise, the Ox's punch actually pushed my arm back, almost making me punch myself in the chest. Actually, to be honest, my arm felt kind of numb after that. Shaking my hand until I could feel it again, I tightened my fist and hit him with a straight punch to the gut. He paused, grunted a little, then smiled. I just stared at him in awe.

"Yo...stop bullshittin'. You _know_ that hurt!" I said.

Ox responded by headbutting me. I took a step back and then turned to Daredevil, who was trying to wrestle Fancy Dan's other gun out of his hand.

"Um...wanna switch?" I asked him.

He didn't answer. He just hit Dan in the crotch with his knee and then flipped him to the ground.

I turned back to Ox and hit him with a right cross to the face. I started hitting him with lefts and rights, and just as I thought I may have hurt him, I felt the sting of Montana's whip on my shoulder. Fancy Dan, who was still laying on the ground, fired at me from where he lay. I titled my head to the side to dodge the bullet, then leapt and tackled Montana to the ground. Just as soon as I knocked him down, I had to jump into the air to dodge another bullet. Even as I flew through the air, Ox ran toward me and rammed his shoulder into my gut. I ended up flying back out of the room. Turning in midair, I bounced off of the far wall and propelled myself back into the room, diving fists-first into Ox's stomach and knocking him down.

I did a handstand and flipped to my feet. As I landed, I saw that Rhino had managed to cut the webbing on his feet with a knife. As soon as he rose to his feet, Daredevil ran toward him and started to beat him on each side of his head with his clubs. Rhino punched him in the face, and they stood there trading punches.

I would like to point out that Daredevil should consider himself lucky. Me? I had all three Enforcers surrounding me.

Fancy Dan recovered his fallen pistol and fired two shots at me. I leaned back, bending almost completely backwards to avoid the bullets. I ended up vaulting onto my hands to avoid Montana's whip, and then I had to handspring back onto my feet to avoid Ox as he tried to punch me and ended up slamming his fist into the ground. I jumped and turned, kicking Ox and Montana in the face, and then kicking both of Fancy Dan's guns out of his hands before landing. Ox was stunned, and Montana was on the ground. But Dan...gotta give it to the little guy, he just ran toward me and started throwing punches and kicks.

The guy obviously had some skill, so I didn't want to waste too much time squaring off with him. He threw six sidekicks at me with his left leg without having to put it down once. When he tried to throw a seventh, I caught him by the ankle with my right hand. We stared at each other in silence for a second.

"Mind if I borrow you for a second?" I asked.

I turned toward Ox, almost dragging the right half of my body behind myself, and swung Fancy Dan at him like a sack of bricks. Apparently Ox wasn't too strong to be stunned by being beaten over the head with a human being. I grabbed Dan's other ankle and proceeded to swing him around like a rag doll, beating Ox about the head and shoulders until he dropped to a knee, and finally fell on the floor. He repeatedly tried to get up, and I repeatedly hit him with his partner.

"Stay down, you asshole! _Stay down!" _I demanded as I beat him into the floor.

After I struck Ox a good twelve times, both he and Fancy Dan were unconscious. I looked up to see Montana rising back to his feet. He snapped his whip at me again, which by the way was becoming increasingly annoying. I caught the whip, pulled him toward me, and punched him in the face. He was out like a light.

Daredevil and Rhino were still trading punches. With the Enforcers knocked out, the two of us could easily take down Rhino. I began to walk toward the two of them when I felt somebody grab my arm. I cocked my fist back and turned toward whoever had grabbed me. To my surprise, it was Tracy, the girl that Rhino was trying to get out of the room.

"Hi," she said somewhat cheerfully, "I'm Tracy."

"Uh...Spider-Man. 'Scuse me one sec."

I turned back toward Rhino and Daredevil, but she grabbed my arm again.

"Wait a second. I just wanna talk..." she said.

"What're you, nuts?"

She didn't respond. Well, not with words anyway. Actually, she pulled my mask up to my nose and planted a kiss on me. I was...stunned. Yeah, I guess that would be the word for it. I kinda stood there, wondering why exactly this girl was kissing me. I dunno exactly how long we were kissing. It wasn't like Tiffany had built a stopwatch into my glove or...

_Oh shit! Tiffany!_

I pulled the girl off of me and yanked my mask back down. She just smiled and winked at me, then took a step back and sat back down on the couch. I was still in a daze as I stared at her.

"A little help here!" Daredevil said, snapping me out of my daze.

I ran toward them, leapt into the air, and kicked Rhino in the chest. He took a step back, grunted, and ran back toward us, extending his arms and clotheslining us both to the ground. He grabbed me by my throat with both hands and lifted me into the air.

"You think you can get away with touching Mr. Talbert's daughter!" Rhino screamed at me

"Fuck you!" I screamed back as I punched him in between the eyes.

Rhino dropped me. I immediately began to punch him repeatedly in the face.

"You're not gonna get away with it this time, Rhino!"

I knocked him down with a right uppercut to the chin. As he tried to get back up, I wrapped both of my hands around his throat and slammed the back of his head into the floor.

"Die, bastard! Die! Die! Die!"

All I could see was red. I kept picturing Tiffany, standing at her father's grave. I kept picturing Rhino, walking the streets with that smug smile of his. I started to picture Osborn...and my mother...

Suddenly, I didn't see Rhino anymore. It was almost as if he had transformed. I looked down at him, and I saw the grotesque goblin creature that Osborn had become. I saw my mother's killer.

"You...you killed my mother..."

"What...what the fuck are you talkin' about...?" Rhino managed to choke out.

_"You killed my mother! You bastard, you took my mother from me! You killed my mother!"_

I became vaguely aware that Daredevil had grabbed me and was trying to pull me off of Rhino, but I didn't care. I continued to choke the life out of him. I can't explain what exactly happened to me. It was like I was hallucinating. I can say now, as I tell you this story, that it was Rhino I was choking, not Osborn. But something in the back of my mind...snapped. I had told myself repeatedly that I was over my mother's death. But here I was, picturing myself strangling Osborn when in reality it was Rhino.

"Spider-Man, stop!" Daredevil yelled.

_"You killed her! You killed my mother!"_ I repeated.

The next thing I knew, I had been knocked to the ground by a blunt object to the head. I looked up to see Daredevil standing over me. I stood back up, and we stared at each other for a moment.

"Not like this," he said. "Not like this..."

I looked back down at Rhino. He was coughing up a lung. I wanted to finish what I had started. Instead, I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and flung him toward a wall. His body bounced off of the wall, and I sprayed webbing at him, pinning him back towards it and holding him in place.

"I want information on the Kingpin," I said as I came back to my senses.

"Fuck you!" he spat back.

Daredevil promptly smacked him across the face with his now re-attached staff.

"The Enforcers couldn't help you, Rhino. Now tell us what we want to know," said Daredevil.

"Fuck both of ya'll..." he said as blood poured from his mouth.

I cracked my knuckles and took a step toward him, but Daredevil grabbed me by the shoulder and stopped me.

"We're getting nowhere. He's too afraid of Kingpin to talk. We should go."

"No! He's gonna tell me everything he knows about the Kingpin!"

"He's not going to talk. I can tell. His heart skips a beat just thinking about the Kingpin. We have no choice but to leave this place. The cops are already on their way."

"But...what the hell did we come here for?"

"Look, let's...let's just get out of here."

You have no idea how pissed I was. We had expected to get some evidence against the Kingpin. Instead all we did was cause a big fight, and I couldn't even find any plausible reason to turn Rhino over to the cops. Truth be told, Daredevil and I were the ones who had committed a crime, not them. At least, not that night.

I looked down at the Enforcers, who were slowly beginning to regain consciousness. I watched as Daredevil walked back down the hallway, toward the window that I shattered. He jumped out of the window, leaving me behind with the Enforcers and Rhino. I started to walk toward the window, but I stopped when I heard Rhino speak.

"This ain't over...you know I'm gonna end up fuckin' you up for this..." said Rhino.

I turned partially and looked over my shoulder at Rhino.

"I'll be waiting. Don't disappoint me."

With that, I followed Daredevil and jumped out of the window.

Within a few minutes, we found ourselves standing on the roof of Sharon Baptist Church, the church I attended with Angel every Sunday. We both stared at the street in silence. After a few minutes, I broke the silence.

"We can't beat the Kingpin, can we?" I asked.

"Of course we can. But it's going to take planning and..."

"No," I cut him off. "We just can't beat him. A guy like that...there's no way we can get any real dirt on him. And kicking Rhino's ass didn't solve a goddamn thing..."

"One thing you have to remember: The Kingpin is not invincible. He _can_ be taken down. But it's not going to be easy," said Daredevil.

I continued staring down at the street for awhile. I was distraught over the whole situation. It made me question why I even put the costume back on.

"Why do you do it?" I asked.

"Do what?"

"The whole costume thing. Your war against Kingpin. Why do you do it?"

"I do it because...I have great power. I squandered that power before. Now I'm trying to make up for what I did. What about you, Spider-Man?"

"I...I don't really know why I do this. It was kid's stuff at first. But I don't think I even have a real motivation to do this."

"Well, I hope you do find your motivation. For what it's worth, it was a pleasure working with you. If you want to continue the fight, do it. Don't let anything stop you from doing what you want to do," said Daredevil.

He stepped toward me and extended his hand. I was actually kind of surprised. I took it and returned the handshake.

"Good luck, Spider-Man."

I nodded and smiled a little under my mask.

"Good luck, Daredevil."

With that, Daredevil dove backwards off of the rooftop. He backflipped, fired the cord from his staff, and was gone in the blink of an eye. I was left alone with my thoughts on the rooftop. It had occurred to me that it was pretty late. It probably would be a good idea to get home before my dad blew a gasket. But there was somewhere I had to go first.

I took my time heading toward my destination. This wasn't something I was looking forward to doing, but it had to be done. I made my way to a familiar apartment building. Tapping on a window on the side of the building, I waited. After a few seconds, the window opened.

"Hey, Tif."

"Rob? Are you okay?" asked Tiffany.

"Yeah. Can I come in?"

Tiffany took a step back. I climbed in through the window and sat on her bed. Tiffany shut the window, closed the blinds, and sat next to me.

"What's wrong, Rob?" she asked.

I sighed and took off my mask, then I turned to look at her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Tiffany, I'm so sorry...I couldn't do a thing...there's no dirt I can get on Rhino to get him convicted," I said.

I stared down at the floor. Tiffany stared at me for a few seconds, then she put her arms around me and pulled me toward her.

"Come here," she said as she hugged me. "You did what you could, Rob. You did more than anybody else would have. I appreciate everything you do for me, understand?"

"But I failed you..."

"Don't ever use that word with me, Rob. You never failed me. Do you understand?"

"Yeah..."

"Rob, look at me."

I slowly looked back up at her.

"I love you. No matter what happens, I love you and I always will. Okay?"

"Yeah. I understand..."

Tiffany kissed me on the cheek, and I smiled at her. I put my arms around her, and we sat quietly in each others' arms for a while.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to ask," I said. "Will you go to the prom with me?"

Tiffany laughed and kissed me again.

"Of course I will," she replied.

I turned toward Tiffany and kissed her. She returned the kiss, and as she did so, she started to remove the shirt to my costume. What happened next is...well...none of your damn business, really. You got enough of that in Chapter Seven, didn't you? Perverts...

In any case, it would be two hours before I went home. After climbing in through my window and changing my clothes, I walked down the hall to my dad's room and knocked on the door.

"Dad, are you awake?" I asked.

"Yeah. Come in, Rob," he replied.

I opened the door to my father's room and entered. He was sitting at the foot of his bed, watching TV.

"What's up, son?" he asked.

"Dad, I have a problem," I said. "Let's say you have the ability to help people, but you're not sure if you should do it or even how to go about it. How do you figure it out?"

My dad seemed to drift off into his thoughts for a second, then he looked at me.

"Son, have a seat," he said. I complied and sat in a nearby chair.

"Rob, have I ever told you about my Uncle Robert?"

"Once or twice."

"Well, Uncle Robert was my favorite uncle. My mother had three brothers, and Robert was the youngest of the siblings. When he was coming up, times were hard. Especially for a Black man. Well, their father ran out on them shortly after Robert was born. He said that he didn't want the responsibility of raising yet another child."

I leaned in and listened intently to my father's story.

"Well, my grandmother raised all of her children herself. My Uncle Willie was the oldest. He dropped out of school and worked odd jobs to support the family. My mother cleaned houses and babysat neighborhood children for money. Uncle Joe became an alcoholic and disappeared. Uncle Robert...he persevered. His mother always stressed the importance of education. She told him to make something of himself. So he did. He went to college and beat the odds. In spite of everything being stacked against him, my Uncle Robert, a Black man in that age, became a college professor. I was always so proud to call him my uncle. Few Black men could say they had done the same in that day and age. I sometimes thought Uncle Robert was the only Black college professor in the country, actually."

I nodded my head and smiled as I listened to my father's story.

"Well, shortly after Uncle Robert got the job, my grandmother died. The family had stuck together for so long, and none of them could make it on their own. Anybody would have expected Uncle Robert to move on with his life, but he did no such thing. He knew he was blessed, and he made sure to do the right thing. He supported the family and helped his siblings get back on their feet. He took care of his responsibilities."

"Sounds like a great guy," I said.

"Oh, he was. So, naturally, it broke my heart when my mother called and told me that Uncle Robert had died."

My father paused for a moment and wiped away a tear. Then he continued.

"He had been killed by a drunk driver. I tried so hard not to cry at my uncle's funeral, but I couldn't hold it in. I had never been so sad in all my life. But this...son, this is what helped me move on. I asked my mother at the funeral...I said, 'Mom, Uncle Robert became such a success...he had so much. He could have moved on and forgotten about the family. Anybody else would have. Why did Uncle Robert give so much of himself for the family?' And my mother looked me in the eye, and she said three words to me that have stuck with me to this day."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Power and responsibility."

My father looked me in the eye as he said these words. I could tell he wanted to stress this to me, just as his mother had done to him.

"I asked my mother what she meant. She said that she once asked Uncle Robert the same question, and he said, 'The Lord blessed me with great power. The power to protect and support my family. And with great power...comes great responsibility.' And I have never forgotten that since."

Hearing this, I suddenly felt...enlightened. Suddenly, everything made a little more sense.

"I named you after my Uncle Robert for a reason, son. I'm telling you this story because...well, because I know you'll grow up to be a great man just like my uncle. You asked if you should help if you're given the ability. The answer is yes, Robert. I'm passing onto you the same words that my uncle lived by: With great power comes great responsibility."

I couldn't help but smile at my father's words. What he said made perfect sense. It almost made the whole thing seem simple. I walked up to my dad and gave him a hug.

"Thanks, Dad. You really helped a lot," I said.

"What's this? I thought you were too macho to hug your old man," he said.

I walked to the door and glanced back at him.

"Nothing in the world would ever stop me from hugging my father," I said, and I closed the door.

I walked back to my room and lay on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, I thought back to the events of the day. It would be a long fight, but I would stick with it. I had the power. And with that power...came great responsibility.

END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN


	16. Media Circus

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Media Circus

School sucks.

No, seriously, it sucks.

I'm bustin' my ass for these grades. See, it's a fairly simple equation. I don't pass, I can't go to prom. I also can't graduate. Which means my father will not allow me to live. So, let us elaborate.

Failing Grades + No Prom Equals One Pissed Off Rob.

Failing Grades + No Graduation Equals One Unhappy Pappy.

Speaking of equations, that's exactly what I was busy with. I found myself sitting at the lunch table, doing some homework from my calculus class. I swear to God I hate math. I think it was created specifically to torment me. I found myself working on a particularly hard equation while Angel and Brian chatted amongst themselves. I could barely hear them, or anybody for that matter. I was too busy pushing my brain to its limit. Before I knew it, I had accidentally snapped my fourth pencil in half.

"Fuckin' hell!" I exclaimed.

"Actually, I think the answer is six," Angel replied with a smirk.

"Goddamn I'll be glad when school is over," I sighed as I folded my arms on the table and sunk my face into them.

"No kiddin'. You can't keep going on breaking pencils like this," said Brian.

"Well, at least your grades have been improving," said Angel.

"This is true. But then there's the whole money situation. Even if I can go to prom, I'm not even sure I can pay for a tux. Which reminds me, have you guys decided what you're wearing?"

"I already bought my dress a week ago," said Angel.

"Damn man...how'd you manage that?" I asked.

"You know me. I've been pulling in extra hours at the diner," she replied.

Angel was the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Waitress". How she managed to get extra hours at the diner and still get straight A's is completely beyond me.

"It's really pretty. Long, sleeveless, silver sequins. I even got glass slippers to go with it," she announced proudly.

"I always said you had a Cinderella complex..."

"Hush your face, negro," she replied.

"How 'bout you?" I asked, turning my head slightly toward Brian.

"Oh yeah, I got my tux a couple days ago. Pretty simple. Black jacket and pants, white shirt," he replied.

"Bowtie or regular tie?" Angel asked.

"Neither."

"Say what?"

"I'm not wearing a tie. I don't believe in 'em," said Brian.

"...you don't 'believe' in ties? They're not a religion, you know," I said.

"Brian, even for you, this is weird. Explain," Angel demanded.

"Ties are a choking hazard! What if somebody just decided to run by me and yank on my tie? I'd be killed!" Brian exclaimed.

Angel and I stared at Brian blankly for a few seconds. I could almost hear her blinking.

"Why...in the hell...would somebody run by...and yank your tie?" I asked, slowly raising my head to stare this crazy person in the eye.

"You never know, man...you never know..."

"Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth..." Angel said, turning her attention to me. "What about Tiffany? Has she gotten her dress yet?"

"I don't think so. I just asked her to the prom last night," I replied.

"When last night? I called you last night and your dad said you weren't home," said Angel.

"I didn't ask her over the phone."

"So...you were at her house last night?" asked Brian.

"At about eleven at night?" asked Angel.

"Yeah...so?"

Now it was my turn to be stared at blankly.

"...ew..." was all Angel could manage.

"Ya'll nasty..." Brian added.

"What are you two talking about?' I asked.

"C'mon Rob, we're all adults here," said Brian.

"At least two of us are, yes..." I replied.

"Brain, come on, this is personal. Don't ask Rob that," said Angel.

"I wanna know! Did you and Tiffany...ya know..."

"Shut up, Brian," I said, and I sank my face back into my arms.

"Speaking of Tiffany, she's absent again. You think she's still sick?" asked Angel.

"She said she wasn't feeling all that great yesterday. Maybe something's going around," I said.

"Or maybe Rob's just sleeping around..." Brian said under his breath.

I promptly hurled a balled up mass of paper into Brian's forehead, knocking him backwards and out of his seat.

"Okay...I deserved that..." Brian admitted from the floor.

Angel just shook her head and stared at the table.

"I need new friends..." she bemoaned.

Brian stood up, dusted himself off, and took his seat.

"Okay Angel, your turn," said Brian.

"My turn for what?" she asked, shooting him a glance that showed that she wouldn't hesitate to knock him back off his seat if he asked the wrong question.

"What about you and Andre? Ya'll did the nasty yet?" he asked with a smirk.

"Don't need to hear this..." I proclaimed without raising my head.

Angel simply closed her eyes and smiled.

"Brian, sweetie..."

"Yeah?"

"Nunya."

"Nunya?"

"Nunya goddamn business!" she screamed at him.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little at that one.

"It's not like we're asking if you and Alysha..." Angel began to say.

"We did," Brian said before she could finish.

"...ew..." Angel repeated.

"This almost makes me want to get back to my math homework..." I noted, still not bothering to raise my head.

Just then, as if I needed the aggravation, guess who decided to show up?

"What's goin' on, ya'll?" said Andre as he took a seat next to Angel.

Yippee...

"Hey baby," he said, giving her a kiss. She returned the kiss, so I simply closed my eyes and tried to pretend he wasn't there. It occurred to me that Brian, our resident pervert, was probably enjoying watching them kiss.

"Hey, did ya'll hear the news?" asked Andre.

"What news?" asked Angel.

"The cops are looking for that Spider-Man guy."

I immediately shot my head up, probably faster than I should have given that I had a secret identity to protect.

"Why?" I asked.

"He's a suspect in a murder. Some crackhead bitch got killed in an alley a couple months back and they think he had somethin' to do with...hold up...that was your mom, wasn't it? Well ain't that funny!"

"Andre, come on.." Angel tried to shut him up.

"That ain't cool," Brian said.

"Aw, come on, he knows I didn't mean anything by it. Right, Rob? For real, it slipped my mind that it was your mom that got her throat ripped out," said Andre.

"Andre, seriously, cut it out," Angel demanded.

"It ain't like he cared about his mom anyway! C'mon Rob, you used to hate her! You were probably happy that Spider-Man guy did you a favor."

I found myself staring at Andre, and I was very seriously contemplating killing him on the spot. Instead, I just stood up and made my way to the exit. I could hear Angel yelling at him as I left, and I could hear him laughing. Something just told me to leave. I walked up to the third floor, where my locker was. I opened it up, removing my backpack from it. I glanced around to make sure nobody was around. Luckily for me, everyone was either in class or had lunch. I closed my locker and turned toward the window. Taking one last look around, I jumped out of the window and scurried to the roof of the building.

I removed my costume from the bag, and once again I found myself staring at the mask. I didn't want to believe what I just heard. I would find out for myself.

Within seconds I was in costume and swinging through the city. It was normally a great way to clear my head, but I was still reeling from what I just heard Andre say. Aside from the fact that I wanted to rip his throat out the same way that Osborn had ripped out my mother's, I couldn't believe what he said: the police thought that I killed my own mother.

Maybe he was just talking shit. He's prone to saying stupid stuff without thinking. That had to be it. This couldn't be true.

I made my way into Center City, the heart of Philadelphia. My destination was Broad and Market, which was the location of City Hall. Finding it was easy enough. I knew the town like the back of my hand. Swing past JFK Boulevard and onto Market, make a left at 20th Street, and swing down past 15th Street. The next street, which one would expect to be called14th, was actually called Broad Street. Even with my mind so pre-occupied, I didn't need to concentrate too much to follow this path. Within a few minutes, I had arrived at City Hall. Perching on the side of the building, I looked down at a newspaper stand. I lowered myself, upside down, on a webline toward the stand until I found myself face to face with the merchant.

"Good afternoon. Can I have a copy of the Daily News, please?" I asked, trying to be polite as possible despite the fact that I was actually seething under my mask.

"You...you're Spider-Man..." he studdered.

"Yes, I am. One Daily News, please," I repeated.

"They say you're a murderer..."

"They're wrong. Can I have the paper?"

He continued to stutter and stammer. I didn't have the time nor the patience. I dropped two quarters onto the counter, grabbed a Daily News, and tugged on the web, pulling myself back up to the wall.

Swinging off of the wall, I made it to the roof of a nearby building and climbed to the top. I sat down and stared at the front page.

_"SPIDER-MAN: MURDERER?_

_A Look At Philadelphia's Masked Man of Mystery"_

What I found truly baffling was that there was a picture of me on the cover. In it, I was clinging to a wall. I had no idea who could have taken the picture. The name given for the photo was "Anonymous". I turned the page and began to read the story.

_"Masked men have often held a certain mystique with the people of this country. Much beloved fictional characters as Zorro, The Shadow, and The Phantom have captivated the hearts of Americans, and our neighbors, for decades. But how can we be expected to react when fiction becomes reality? When real men put on masks and take the law into their own hands, where do you draw the line?_

_"Of course there have been some rumors circulating for the last few months. There's the rumor of a secret group of teenagers with mutant powers operating somewhere in New York._ _There are urban legends, such as the biker with the flaming skull in Las Vegas or the gigantic green monster in Arizona. And of course we've all heard the rumors of the government super team that's supposedly being led by none other than a rejuvenated World War II hero. Usually these stories are brushed off and thought of as nothing more than tall tales._

_But then we come to Spider-Man. For the past several months, he too has been considered nothing more than an urban legend. But as you have seen on our front page, there is photographic evidence of the existence of the so-called Spider-Man. In the following pages, you will find even more photos._

_The question is: Are these legitimate pictures? And if so, just who, or what, is this Spider-Man? What's his agenda? And what is his connection to the murder of a Philadelphia woman just a few months ago?"_

My heart skipped a beat when I read that last part. I continued to read the article, which detailed the investigation, and how I had come to be called a suspect. I continued reading, and then I turned the pages until I found the pictures.

There was another picture of me, swinging from a webline. From the height I was at, one would have to be almost as high in the air as me to have taken such a picture.

There was another picture of me, hanging upside down from a web.

But the last picture, that one got to me...

In the last picture, I was standing in an alley. And below me was a body.

It was my mother...

I stared at the picture in shock. It must have been taken shortly after I put my mask back on, just before I left the alley. My mother's body lay at my feet in a pool of blood.

At this point, it never occurred to me to go back to school. I didn't care. I would reread the article four more times. But something struck me as odd as I read the article.

When I fought Mark in that alley, I killed three of his friends before Osborn killed my mother.

But according to the article, the only body found in the alley was my mom's...

END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN


	17. Family Business

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Family Business

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon when I returned home. Having stuffed my costume into my backpack, I sauntered into the house, dragging my feet along as I made my way to my bedroom. I was not having a good day, needless to say. Between that asshole that Angel calls her boyfriend, the newspaper article I had read, and the bank robbery I broke up on the way home (some idiot on skates calling himself the Rocket Racer decided to knock off a bank. He ended up skating face-first into my fist) I had experienced enough aggravation for one day. I just wanted to go to my room. I wanted not to be disturbed for the rest of the day. Naturally, that was not to be. As I entered my room and threw my backpack on the bed, my dad came out of his room and walked down to mine.

"Dad? What are you doing home so early?" I asked.

"Son, don't you remember what day it is?" he asked me.

I guess I was giving him one of those dumbfounded looks. He looked a little disappointed that I had forgotten that the day was...whatever it was.

"Rob, today we're going to see Aaron," my father said, his face portraying a bit of sadness.

I honestly had not remembered this. This was the wrong day for any of this, and my brother Aaron was the last person on Earth that I wanted to see.

"I don't remember you telling me that," I said, my tone sounding a bit angrier than I meant it to.

"Rob, I told you this two weeks ago. He needs to see us. And he misses you. You haven't spoken to him in months..."

"And I don't intend to! There's no point in talking to him about anything!"

"Not even your mother?"

My heart skipped a beat. I really wished he hadn't brought her up...

"What does she have to do with this?" I asked.

"Well, she's Aaron's mother too. He and I spoke about her passing a few times, but I think he would really like to discuss it with you. He's worried about you, Rob."

"Bullshit!" I exploded. "Aaron doesn't care about anybody but himself! Now we're supposed to show up and comfort him because he suddenly feels guilty? _He_ turned his back on _us,_ not the other way around!"

I began to close my bedroom door, but my father placed his hand on the door and looked me in the eye.

"You wouldn't even go for me?" he asked.

I paused, staring back at him, and then lowered my head.

"Come on, Dad, don't do this to me..." I begged.

"Son, if you won't go for Aaron, then go for me. Please. I cared deeply for your mother, just like you did. I just lost a part of my family, just like you did. And losing her...well...it reminds me of my own mortality. I'm not going to be here forever, Rob."

"Yeah, I know..." I said, turning away.

"Before I leave this life, I would like to at least see the rest of my family getting along. For all intents and purposes, Rhonda was still my wife. And she's gone now. I want to see my boys behaving as brothers should. If I could see that, I would die a happy man."

He paused, and we stood in silence for awhile. I stood silently with my back to him, contemplating what he had just told me.

"I realize it's selfish..." he began to say.

"It's not selfish, Dad..." I said as I turned to him. "Just...just give me a minute, okay?"

He paused for a moment, then he backed away from the door.

"Thank you, son," he said, and he walked back to his room.

I closed the door behind him and sat on my bed. There was entirely too much on my plate, and I hadn't even put the costume back on that long ago. It seemed like wearing it was only bringing me more problems. What I needed to do was sort things out and tackle my problems one at a time. On that note, I had remembered that I meant to call Tiffany. I reached for the phone and dialed her number.

"Hello?" she responded after the third ring.

"Hey Tif. You alright?" I asked.

"Oh, hey baby. I'm not feeling all that great," she replied.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing you want to hear about. Trust me. I just woke up real sick this morning. I've been feeling kinda tired all day. Did I miss anything important in school today?"

"Don't start me to lyin'. I was gone most of the day."

"Really? What happened?"

"Ugh...long story. Right now me and my dad are about to go...handle some family business. You want me to swing by later?"

"That would be great. You gonna use the door this time?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Nah, might be kinda late before I get back. I'll come in the usual way," I replied.

"Okay. I wanted to talk to you about something, anyway."

"Something important?" I asked, getting a little worried at the sound of that.

"Um...we'll talk about it later, 'kay?"

"Yeah...alright. See you then," I said as I hung up the phone.

My heart skipped a beat, and I was almost sure I could feel that tingling on the back of my neck again. I had no idea what Tiffany wanted to talk to me about, but whatever it was would have to wait until later. For the moment, I was about to see my brother, and I wasn't even sure that I was ready to do so.

_Hours later..._

There's something very strange about being inside of a prison. Even if you aren't the prisoner, and even if you aren't in a cell, it still feels...I dunno...claustrophobic. Like the walls are closing in on you, like there isn't enough air. I was almost surprised to have this feeling once I stepped foot in the building. I wanted to ask my dad if he knew what it would be like, but neither of us said a word the entire drive up to the prison. I wasn't even sure what I would say to Aaron once we got there, if anything.

Nothing in the prison was as I had expected it to be.. I expected one of those deals where Aaron would be on the other side of a window, talking to us through a telephone. I figured he'd have on one of those orange jumpsuits, or maybe one of those striped inmate uniforms from those old movies. I thought he would slowly inch his way into the room with his hands and feet in shackles. But after we went through the metal detector and signed a few papers, we were led to the visitors' room, and every expectation I had about the place proved to be wrong.

A few minutes after we sat down, we saw Aaron enter from a door on the other side of the room. He walked in, minus the shackles, wearing a white muscle shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His hair was braided, and the first thing I started to wonder was who the hell braided his hair in a prison full of men. He had a book in his hands, which I would realize as he walked toward us was the Holy Qu'ran. He walked toward the table, with no glass barrier between us. My dad arose and gave him a monstrous bearhug.

"It's good to see you, son," my father said. I simply remained in my seat as this happened.

"Good to see you too, Dad. How's everything?" my brother asked as he took a seat at our table.

"Oh, you know. The usual. Work and all that," my dad said with a big smile.

Aaron then turned toward me and punched me in the arm.

"Hey, little brother! No hug for me?" he asked.

"Who braided your hair?" I asked him.

"Say what?"

"There aren't any women in here. Who braided your hair?"

"Rob..." my dad bemoaned.

"Nah, it's cool, Dad. My girlfriend, Sarah, did it for me," Aaron replied.

"You have a girlfriend? When did this happen?" asked my father.

"I met her a couple months before I got locked up. She braided my hair the last time she visited."

"Wait, I'm confused. They let your girlfriend of a couple months come to visit you?" asked my father.

"Well, yeah, on account of she's pregnant with my...oh crap...I forgot to tell you about that, didn't I?" Aaron looked a little embarrassed at that point.

We were, needless to say, shocked.

"You got a girl pregnant?!"

In case you were wondering, my dad asked that question, and his voice was high enough to startle a couple of the guards.

"Uh...yeah. I meant to tell you, but uh..." Aaron stammered.

"But you knew I would kill you?" my dad replied.

"Somethin' like that.."

"Aaron, what are you going to do? The child will be fifteen before you even get out of here!"

"Well, maybe not," said Aaron. "My lawyer's trying to see what he can do to get my sentence reduced. With any luck, I might be able to get it reduced to as few as five years. I'm keeping my hopes up, you know?"

"I suppose." My dad glanced at the book in Aaron's hand. "What's this?"

"Oh, this?" Aaron said, handing him the book. "This is the Qu'ran."

"You're Muslim now?"

"I'm thinking about it. I spoke to a few of the guys in here. They gave me some literature to check out, spoke to me about a few things. I'm thinking it could help me get my life on track."

"Well, I'm certainly surprised to hear that. I'm glad you found something positive to do."

"Yeah. Dad, I tell you, I'm gonna do right. I'm gonna get out of here, I'm gonna marry Sarah, and I'm gonna take care of this baby. I'll make you proud, Dad. You'll see."

"That's great, son," my dad said with a smile. "The first step is to set a goal, so you're already on your way. Just remember, you have a lot of responsibilities to handle now."

"Yes, sir." Aaron turned to me. "You're awfully quiet over there, Rob. You mad at me or somethin'?"

"Don't have much to say," I replied.

"Look, I know I let you down. But I'm trying to turn things around. Don't you have at least a little faith in your big brother?"

"No."

"Well, I'll convince you sooner or later. I'm sure of it."

"Don't hold your breath."

"Rob, come on, this is your brother..." my dad said. I make it a point to say "my" dad, not "our" dad.

"My brother who sold the same poison that killed our mother," I replied.

At that, I could see a flash of rage in Aaron's eyes.

"Drugs didn't kill her," he said in a low, raspy tone. "Spider-Man killed her."

I'm positive my eyes flashed the same rage in that instant.

"No, he didn't," I replied in a low, subdued tone.

"Have you been reading the papers? Watching the news? The first few weeks anybody saw him, he did nothing but attack drug dealers. Makes sense that he would kill a recovering addict, doesn't it?"

"He fights crime. He protects people..."

"Name one person he's protected! Name one life he saved!"

"How about everybody in my school? Or did you not hear about that whole Electro thing?"

"Alright boys, enough!" demanded my dad. "I did not bring you hear to watch you bicker with one another."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I'm just having a little trouble getting over Mom's death, you know? I couldn't even come to the funeral..." said Aaron.

"You could have if you wanted to," I replied. "They let inmates attend a loved one's funeral. Did you even ask if you couldn't attend, or did you assume you couldn't?"

"I'm sure Aaron could have attended the funeral if he was able to. Let's not be so hard on him," said my father.

"I just wish I could have spoken to her one last time. I was hoping she'd get her life together. I was always so upset with her before, but the truth is, I know that _I'm_ the one that disappointed _her,_" said Aaron.

"I doubt that's the case, Aaron," my father said.

"I don't know. I always used to say she was a bad mother. Maybe it turns out that I was just a bad son..."

"No argument there," I interjected.

"What's that supposed to mean?" my brother asked.

"You're right. You were a bad son. And a bad brother. And odds are you'll be a bad father," I replied.

"I'm going to handle my responsibilities to my child..."

"Sure, the same way you handled your responsibilities to the rest of your family."

"What is it you have against me, Rob? Are you mad because I got locked up, or what? I'm trying to make everything better! Why can't you forgive me?"

"You broke your promise!" I yelled, prompting a guard to approach the table.

"Is everything alright here?" he asked.

"Yes, everything's fine," my dad replied. The guard nodded and went back to his post.

"Rob, what are you talking about? What promise?" asked my father.

"Why don't you tell him, Aaron?" I asked, looking my brother in the eye.

"I don't even know what you're talking about..." Aaron replied.

"Of course you don't," I said, still looking him in the eye. "When we were kids, the night Mom moved us out of the house and took us to Atco, I was sad because I didn't want to move in the first place, and you made a promise to me that night. You promised that you would never leave me, no matter what. You said I could always depend on my big brother."

Aaron was silent for a moment. He stared at the table for a few moments, then cleared his throat and finally looked back up at me.

"I'm sorry, Rob. I didn't mean to..."

"It doesn't matter anymore. We're grown men. That was just some stupid kid shit, right?"

"Rob, you're not being fair to Aaron," my father interjected.

"And he wasn't fair to me," I replied.

There was an awkward silence for the next few moments, and then my father and brother resumed their conversation. I had nothing else to say for the rest of the visit.

The car ride home would be just as quiet as the ride up to the prison. I think my dad felt a little better to have seen Aaron, but I guess he was disappointed in the way our conversation turned out. By the time we made it home, it was about eight o'clock. I remembered that I had to see Tiffany, so I needed to get my costume to make it there via the "express route". I started up the stairs when my father called me.

"Rob..." he said.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"I'd like to do this again within a month or so. Next time, please try not to be so hard on your brother."

"...I'll try."

"He's really trying to make things right, Rob. Let's try to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"I'll try," I repeated. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Got a big test tomorrow," I blatantly lied.

"Alright. Goodnight, son."

Finally making it to my room, I closed the door and put on my costume. Having put on everything but my mask, I stared out the window at the night sky. There was a full moon. That never bodes well, in my opinion. Full moons always seem to bring out the worst in people. I suddenly had very a bad feeling about going out, but I wasn't going to let Tiffany down.

"Goddamn..." I cursed to myself before putting on the mask and climbing out of the window.

Within a few minutes I had gotten my momentum going and was swinging between the buildings with little effort. Which was good, because there was a lot on my mind and if I didn't know what I was doing I would have slammed into the side of a building by that point.

I swung in a wide arc, coming only a couple of feet off the ground before swinging upward again. I released the web and found myself soaring through the air. After a double backflip, I let off another web and yanked on it, propelling myself forward. I let go of the web and let myself freefall for a few seconds, then I grabbed a lamppost with one hand, turned to the right, and flew away from it, landing squarely on the side of Tiffany's apartment building. Crawling past a few windows, I finally found her window and tapped on it lightly. A few seconds later, Tiffany opened the window.

"Hey, pretty lady," I greeted her.

"Come in, quick," she said quickly and then backed away from the window. I jumped in the window, and she closed the curtain behind me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Tiffany turned and pointed toward her TV. There was a news broadcast on, with the words "Breaking News: Hostage Situation at Philadelphia Church" emblazoned at the bottom of the screen. I immediately recognized the church as it appeared on the screen.

"Oh no...Sharon Baptist..."

"Isn't that the church you go to?" asked Tiffany.

"Yeah, me and...oh God.."

"What?"

"I go to that church with Angel. She's not...?"

"No, she's not there," said Tiffany. "She called here looking for you. She said she called your house to tell you to turn to the news, but when you didn't answer, she called here to see if you were with me, and told me about this."

I felt relieved, but at the same time, I had to do something about this. I continued to watch as the reporter spoke.

_"This situation has been going on for nearly two hours. Very little information is known. What we can verify is that an evening service at the church was interrupted by what witnesses have described as a large man with a purple hooded cloak. Witnesses say he attacked the pastor with what appeared to be some kind of stun gun, shocking him and knocking him unconscious. Also, he was said to be brandishing a large sword of some kind. _

_Once the police arrived, everyone in the church was allowed to leave with the exception of Pastor Keith Reed and his wife Patrice. The released hostages say that the suspect demanded that Spider-Man come to the church, and if he fails to do so, then he will kill the two remaining hostages. So far there has been no sign of the vigilante, who recently was revealed to be more than an urban legend and is currently sought for questioning in a murder investigation. The police have been posted outside of the church for about an hour and a half, now. We'll be sure to update you with further information as it develops."_

"I have to get down there," I said, turning back toward the window.

"Wait, what are you going to do? And what's this about you and a murder?" asked Tiffany.

"Long story," I replied."I have to get down there and stop this guy."

I started to climb out of the window when Tiffany grabbed my arm.

"Rob...be careful, okay? You come back in one piece."

"It's just some guy. I'll take care of it."

"I know but...I have a bad feeling about this..."

"Nothing's gonna happen. I'll just knock him out and leave him webbed up for the cops, then I'll come back here. I promise."

"Okay...just remember, you and I still have to have that talk, okay?"

"You got it. I love you."

"I love you too, Rob," Tiffany said with a slight smile, though I could see in spite of the smile that she was very worried. I couldn't blame her.

I jumped out of the window and started to swing toward the church. As I made my way there, I couldn't help but shake this feeling of dread that had come over me. I understood why Tiffany was worried. Hell, I was worried too, and I didn't know why. As I ascended from a particularly big swing, I glanced at the moon one last time before firing another web and beginning to swing again.

"Hm...full moon..." I noted aloud.

After a few minutes, I found myself perched atop a building across the street from Sharon Baptist Church. There were police everywhere. It seemed that they were trying not to get too close to the building, which was good, as they had no idea what this guy's mental state was and somebody could end up provoking him into killing the pastor or his wife.

I backed up a few feet to give myself some distance, then I ran forward, jumped, and soared across the street until I landed on the side of the church. I wasn't sure whether or not any of the cops saw me, and I didn't really care. I would end this quickly. Crawling toward a window, I opened it slightly and quietly slipped inside.

Most of the lights were off. The only light in the room came from about a dozen candles that were lit at the far end of the church, in front of the pews. I crawled slowly and silently along the ceiling, staying in the shadows and making my way to the front of the church. As I crawled, I observed the area. Sure enough, there was a guy in a purple hooded cloak standing there, holding a really huge sword in his right hand. I mean, this thing was humongous. You ever play that game Soul Calibur? You know that one guy Nightmare, with the really big sword? Yeah, it was about that big, with a curved, serrated blade. Beside him, I could see Patrice Reed. She was tied to a chair and gagged. On the floor beside her was Pastor Reed. From the looks of it, he had been beaten up pretty badly. He arose to his feet and stood before the guy with the sword. The hooded figure took a step toward him.

"I'm impressed. You have quite a bit of tenacity," the guy in the hood said with an inhumanly deep voice.

"Do what you want to with me, but let my wife go..." the pastor demanded.

The guy in the hood responded by hitting him with a vicious left backhand, knocking him back to the ground.

"No, I don't think so. I demanded that Spider-Man show up, and he didn't. That means you both have to die. But because you put up such a valiant effort to defend your wife, I'll spare you the agony of having to watch her slow, painful death," said the man in the hood.

He raised his sword above his head and prepared to strike down on Pastor Reed.

"You get to die first," he said as he swung downward.

Too bad for him, he didn't have anything to swing downward with. I fired a webline at the sword and yanked it out of his hands, tossing it toward the back of the church. Everyone in the room looked up in my direction. As far as I could tell, Pastor and Mrs. Reed couldn't see me, but the guy in the cloak, despite the oversized hood that hid his face, seemed to be looking right at me.

"Nobody in here is going to die," I said before dropping to the floor. I was standing about ten feet away from everybody at this point.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to come," the man in the hood replied. His voice, deep as it was, sounded vaguely familiar to me.

"Let them go," I demanded. "You wanted me, now I'm here. Hand over your other weapon and let these people leave."

"Other weapon? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Spider-Man."

"They said you had a stun gun."

"Oh, right. That..."

In the blink of an eye, the guy in the hood was standing directly in front of me. I was shocked at his speed.

"No, that wasn't a stun gun..." he said as he placed his hand on my chest.

My danger sense flared up for a split second, and then I felt a shock. My body arched back, and I screamed in pain as an electric pulse went through my body. Eventually I was propelled away from my attacker and flew back a few feet. I landed on the ground and groaned in pain.

"That was me," the hooded figure said as he clenched his now smoking fist.

The hooded man looked over his shoulder at Pastor Reed.

"I'm a man of my word. You and your wife may go now," he said.

I started to rise to my feet, and as I did, I saw Pastor Reed untying his wife. They both ran down the aisle, with Mrs. Reed running past me and exiting the building. Pastor Reed stopped and turned to me.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"Don't worry about that. Just get out of here," I replied.

The pastor complied and followed his wife out of the building. I heard the door shut behind me seconds later, and now the hooded man and I found ourselves in a staring contest.

"Neat trick," I said in regards to electrocution I had just suffered. "What's your story?"

"Oh, that? It was just a little something I was toying with. I just couldn't get it quite right. I can't fire bolts of electricity or anything like that. I can only charge it through my fingertips and shock whatever I'm touching."

"You sound disappointed."

"Well, somewhat. I can't even produce as much voltage as Electro could."

At the sound of that name, my eyes widened under my mask.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"Oh Spider-Man, come now. Must we have this conversation every time we meet? Let me clarify things for you."

With that, the hooded man ran toward me and hit me with a haymaker. I flew back several feet before performing a midair backflip and landing on my feet. I slid back a few inches and then stood back up.

"What the hell are you?" I asked.

"Why, I'm my own greatest invention."

The man reached up and grabbed his hood. With one pull he removed his cloak and threw it aside. I recognized him instantly. The green skin, the glowing yellow eyes, the fangs and the claws. It was the creature I had met months before.

It was Norman Osborn.

"You...what have you done to yourself...?" I asked.

"I told you before, Jordan, you were just the experiment. I, however, am the end result," Osborn replied.

I clenched my fists and walked toward him.

"Obsorn..." I growled. "I've been meaning to do this for a long time..."

Without a moment's hesitation, I hit Osborn in his scaly green jaw with a right hook. His head snapped back, and much to my surprise he simply turned back toward me and flashed a toothy grin.

"Not too bad, Jordan. You were an adequate prototype, but now that my experiment has reached its new phase, I'm afraid I'm going to have to dispose of you. No point in keeping evidence around, you know."

Osborn retaliated with a right punch to my chest. I flew backwards and hit the ground again.

"You think I'm gonna let you toy with me any longer? You're crazier than I thought. It ends here, Osborn," I said as I stood back up.

"Do me one favor, Spider-Man. Let's forgo the use of real names here, shall we? You chose your name, and I chose one of my own. You see, I like to give all of my experiments codenames. Yours was Arachnid, after the Arachnid Project. There were also the Lizard and Electro Projects. Well, I codenamed my own little experiment Project: Rebirth. But after seeing the end results, I think I've come up with an even better name for myself."

Osborn grabbed me by the chest with both hands and began to electrocute me again. He cackled like the mad scientist he was as the voltage pulsed through my body.

"Green Goblin..."

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


	18. Flames

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Flames

I was starting to see black. My ears were ringing. I couldn't breathe. Osborn...no, the Green Goblin, was shocking me and it was all I could do to stay conscious. I tried to pry his hands from my chest, but they wouldn't budge. Clenching my fists together, I struggled to pull my arms back, and managed to clap my fists on his ears. The Goblin howled in pain and stopped electrocuting me. Pressing the advantage, I grabbed him by his forearms, rolled onto my back, and pressed my feet into his stomach. I used my body as a pivot, lifted him into the air with my legs and monkey-flipped him past me.He flew through the air and crashed through one of the pews, sending splinters of wood flying in each direction.

As soon as he landed, he turned and started to stand back up. I arose to my feet and jumped toward him. He stood up and managed to look up at me just before I tackled him to the ground. I started to beat the Goblin's head into the floor with rights and lefts, bashing him until I saw specks of blood fly from his nose and lips. I got a good twelve punches in before I noticed him reaching to the side with his right hand. He was reaching for his sword. He got a hold of it and swiped it in my direction. With less than a second to dodge it, I jumped off of him, performed a double backflip, and landed a few feet away from him. The Goblin stood back up and stared me down.

"I'm impressed with your strength, Spider-Man. You turned out to be pretty powerful, for a trial run. Of course, I've progressed in my experiments, and now my work has far surpassed you," said the Goblin.

"Yeah. You learned how to turn your skin green. That's a hell of a lot of progress," I replied.

"If you only knew. I have far more resources now, and a little help from some friends. That dingy little lab of mine is long gone. I have a real research facility, with unlimited funding, and..."

His speech was cut short. Mainly because I ran toward him and punched him in the mouth.

"You killed my mother!" I exclaimed as I hit him with a left hook.

Before I could hit him again, the Goblin swung his sword at me again. I bent almost completely backwards, and the sword swung over my head. I stood back up and continued hitting him, only stopping momentarily to dodge more sword swings. Finally, I hit him with a right cross, and he stumbled back. It seemed as though I had hurt him with that one. I ran toward him and cocked my fist back. One more punch would do it, I thought.

Of course, more than half of what I think invariably turns out to be wrong.

The Goblin swung again, and this time he connected. The blade caught me on the chest, ripping a big chunk of cloth, along with a fair amount of flesh and blood, with it. The cut wasn't deep enough to be a mortal blow, but it damn sure hurt along. I dropped to a knee and clutched my chest as blood ran over my hands and pooled on the floor.

"Oh God...oh God..."

"God can't hear you, Spider-Man. Just like he couldn't hear that whore of a mother of yours..." cackled the Green Goblin.

Before I knew it, I was struck in the face with the Goblin's monstrously large, clawed right foot. I flew back towards the podium and crashed into it, toppling it over.

"He can't even hear you in this place..." said the Goblin as he stalked toward me.

I couldn't breathe. I was bleeding everywhere. My vision was getting blurry and I was starting to go numb.

_Oh my God..._I thought in a panic. _I'm dying...I'm going to die in this place in this costume with this monster..._

My mind was moving a mile a minute. I had to calm down, or the Goblin would finish me for sure. If I didn't focus, I'd be dead. And I'm obviously no use to anybody as a corpse.

_Think, Rob. Just think of some way to hit him back hard. What was it that Dad always said? Never...never panic in an emergency, right? That panicking would only make things worse...alright, listen to your father for once, dumbass. You are not going to die here. This...whatever it is...it killed your mom...take him down._

Looking back, I saw that I had knocked the podium into the candles that the Goblin had set up. All of the candles fell over and set fire to the rug beneath it, which quickly began to spread and ignite on the wooden floor. The flame also lit the podium ablaze. I grabbed it, lifted it over my head, and hurled it at the Goblin.

"Pathetic!" he roared, and with one swing of his sword he broke the podium into a mess of splinters and embers.

That's alright, though. That's what I _wanted_ him to do...

With the Goblin distracted, he had little time to react as I dove forward and hit him in the stomach fists-first. I followed up with a right uppercut, then a left backhand. The Goblin attempted to bring the sword down upon me, but I managed to sidestep it, causing the blade to get stuck in the floor. I jumped and turned, hitting him in the face with a roundhouse kick. Upon landing, I attempted a spinning side kick, but before I knew it, he caught my leg by the ankle. We both stood still for a moment. Then, he lifted me into the air...with one damn hand I might add...and started to swing me over his head. After three swings, he threw me away like a rag doll.

Ya know, I think I was right about that whole thing with the full moon and bad luck, all things considered. I say that because, next thing I knew, I fell against the wall where the flames had spread. Fire had now caught to my arms and back, and it was all I could do to get away from the flames and roll on the ground in an attempt to put it out. I had managed to do so, but not before suffering some burns. My back and shoulders were in intense pain, not to mention my chest, but I had to attempt to ignore the pain and continue the fight. I looked up to see the Goblin pulling his sword out of the ground.

"We'd better finish up here, Spider-Man," he said. "This place will burn to the ground before long. What say we take this somewhere else?"

The Green Goblin turned toward the door and made a run for it. I struggled to my feet and ran after him. He lowered his head and burst through the door with his shoulder, splintering it and sending little pieces of wood everywhere. I continued running after him, and we found ourselves in front of the church and surrounded by a large crowd of people.

"Look, Spider-Man, spectators! Let's welcome them!" said the Goblin.

"Goblin, stop! They have nothing to do with this!" I yelled after him.

Before anyone could react, the Goblin ran into the large crowd of policemen that had surrounded the church. I watched as they aimed their weapons at him, but it was too late.

What happened next seemed to be in slow motion. The Green Goblin plowed through the police officers, swinging his sword in every direction and hacking off body parts like it was a game. I watched as limbs flew everywhere, as the officers were amputated and halved and decapitated. I continued running toward him and jumped into the crowd. I managed to tackle him to the ground, knocking his sword out of his hand. We ended up grappling on the ground amidst blood and body parts. It was like something out of a horror movie. Eventually I was able to pin him to the ground and hit him repeatedly with my right fist. After I hit him with five punches, he threw his hand over his face.

"Stop! I give up! I can't take anymore!" the Goblin bellowed.

I paused for a moment. It seemed that the fight was finally over.

Naturally, I was proven wrong yet again. The Goblin, sick monster that he is, grabbed a policemen's severed arm of all things and slapped me in the face with it, knocking me off of him.

"Sucker!" he said with a laugh.

We both stood up and faced off. There was no telling how, or when, this thing would end. We wouldn't have time to figure it out, though, because we both looked up at the sound of guns cocking. The dozen or so surviving officers around us had their weapons trained on us.

"Put your hands up, both of you! Either of you freaks moves a muscle and you'll be ventilated!" demanded the captain.

"Heh...I'd like to see you try..." the Goblin cackled.

In a split second, the Goblin was right in front of me with his hands wrapped around my throat. He lifted me in the air with both hands and laughed as he strangled me.

"There, my hands are up," he said, laughing as he did so.

I struggled to get his hands off of my throat, but his grip was too strong. All of the policemen around us watched in awe, but nobody did anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the cops turn to the captain.

"Sir, what should we do?" he asked.

"You should shoot the motherfucker, that's what!" I said as I managed to pry the Goblin's hands away from my neck. It took repeated kicks with both feet to finally make him back off. I landed on my feet and looked up.

"Take a look behind you, Spider-Man. Have a look at your handiwork," said the Goblin.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw what he was talking about. My eyes widened beneath my mask at the horrible sight before me.

The church had become entirely engulfed in flames. It would be completely destroyed soon. There was nothing that could be done to save it. I stood and turned back to the Goblin.

"You're a real bastard..." I growled. "What was the point of all this?"

"I'm not the one that set fire to the church, hero," the Goblin replied with a devilish grin.

I was about to reply, but then I felt it. The danger sense buzzed at the back of my neck, this time with more ferocity than usual. I looked up and immediately realized what was causing it to go off.

The captain took a step back, then aimed his weapon at us, along with the rest of the policemen.

"Fire!" he commanded.

Instinctively, I leapt into the air, then found myself twisting and flipping through the air in an attempt to dodge the hail of bullets. The cops knew what they were doing. They all crouched low and fired high, careful to avoid hitting one another and doing everything in their power to hit us. I continued to jump back and forth, cartwheeling and handspringing to avoid being hit. Much to my surprise, the Goblin, despite his size, had managed to dodge a few bullets himself before jumping into the crowd of policemen. He slapped a few of them aside, then ran away from the scene.

"God damnit! I don't have time for this!" I said as I continued to dodge bullets. I finally managed to jump over the heads of the cops and fire a webline at a nearby building. They continued firing at me as I swung away from them and toward the Goblin.

The Green Goblin continued to run for about two blocks. I swung after him as fast as I could and managed to catch up to him.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? This isn't over!" I yelled after him.

"Oh, I know. I just wanted to find a less crowded place to kill you!" the Goblin replied.

Much to my surprise, the Goblin jumped into the air...really goddamn high into the air...and stuck to the side of a nearby building. Upon further inspection, I saw that he had actually dug his clawed fingers into the wall and was making handholds for himself. He climbed to the top of the building and then took off again. I swung to the top of the building and chased after him.

The Goblin continued running to the edge of the building, then he leapt off of it. I stopped and stared in shock as he flew over two other buildings before landing on the roof of the third.

"Shit..." was the only thing I could really say in regards to that.

I continued running after him, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until I caught up to him once again. He stopped and started to laugh in my face.

"The hell's so funny?" I asked.

"Your efforts have been futile. I just find it amusing that you keep trying," he replied.

"You think I'm just gonna turn around and go home? I'm not finished until I take you down."

"And then what? You'll put me in prison? Hand me over to the police that would just as soon fire upon you as they would on me? I suppose I'd have to make a plea bargain, then. Maybe I'd give them some information about you to reduce my sentence."

"You won't live long enough to say anything..."

"Oh, but I have so much to tell. And I'm sure they would be eager to hear everything I have to say. After all, somebody has to tell them about your evil ways. Especially about that incident where you murdered your own mother..."

"Bastard!" I screamed as I pounced on him and wrapped my hands around his throat. I started banging his head into the roof and tightened my grip.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" the Goblin spat.

"_You_ killed my mother! For no reason!"

"I did you a favor, you ungrateful little shit!" said the Goblin. He placed his hands on my chest and shocked me again. I released my grip on his neck and fell back. The Goblin stood over me and cackled.

Slowly, I arose again and faced him. I was exhausted and bleeding, and my costume was torn. That monster, that thing that killed my mother, just stood there laughing like a hyena. Sparks started to fly around his hands. I clenched my fists and crouched into a low stance. I had to finish it before he managed to kill more people.

"What say we finish this, Spider-Man?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Of course, neither of us got to act on that little notion. Suddenly the wind kicked up, and I heard a loud whooping sound. Before I knew it, there was a bright light being shone down upon us. I looked up to see a police helicopter flying over us. I heard a loud, booming voice coming from the chopper.

"This is the Philadelphia Police Department! Lay face down and do not move! This is your only warning! Failure to comply will result in the use of lethal force!" said somebody in the chopper.

"Hm...pests..." said the Goblin. "I suppose we'll have to postpone this fight, Spider-Man. Another time, then."

With that, the Goblin had leapt off of the roof faster than the police could react to him. I jumped off of the roof, fired a webline, and swung after him.

"Oh, fuck that," I said as I followed him. "We're ending this _tonight!"_

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


	19. And Here My Troubles Began

CHAPTER NINETEEN: And Here My Troubles Began...

I was beaten, burned, and bloodied. My costume had been torn. I had nearly been shot by at least a dozen cops. Each time I inhaled, it felt like there was sulfur in my lungs. I was exhausted, the odds were stacked against me, and goddamnit I had homework to turn in the next day. But none of that mattered at the moment.

Because I was _pissed._

I found myself swinging after the Green Goblin, who was hopping rooftops with ease, almost as if he were skipping rocks in a stream. Trailing behind me was a police helicopter. With my sixth sense (which I have officially dubbed as my Spider Sense and shall henceforth refer to it as such) flaring up, it was all I could do not to become distracted. If I overshot a webline or something, I could lose the Goblin...not to mention plummet several hundred feet to the ground and, y'know, die.

Eventually the Goblin landed in front of a large billboard with a Coca Cola emblem emblazoned on it. He glanced back at me, and then down to the street. There was a large group of people on the street, who were seemingly unaware of our presence high above them. The Goblin turned back to the billboard and swiped at one of the support beams with his clawed right hand. The beam was severed instantly. He ran to the other side of the billboard and slashed the other beam, leaving only the supports in the back holding it up. I landed beside him on the rooftop just as the billboard started to teeter.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"Seems to me you have to make a choice, hero," he said as beams in the back started to succumb to the pressure.

"You goddamned maniac!" I exclaimed, already rushing toward the billboard as I did so. Before I could stop it, the Goblin grabbed me by the shoulders and shocked me again. I dropped to my knees and watched as the Goblin stepped behind the billboard.

"Chase me or save the people on the street, Spider-Man!" the Goblin cackled as he destroyed the last of the supports.

With a loud snapping sound, the last of the beams broke off. Seconds later, the billboard started to tip over, falling over me and toward the ground, where the group of civilians were gathered. The Goblin laughed his evil laugh and ran to the opposite edge of the rooftop.

"Choose wisely!" he said. And with that, he continued his escape.

I wanted to kick myself for letting him pull this on me, but there was no time to think about that. I had to stop that billboard before it crushed the people on the street. I rushed to the edge of the building and took a swan dive off of it. I found myself rocketing toward the billboard, but it seemed to be moving too fast for me to catch up with it. For that matter, what the hell would I do once I caught up to it anyway?

I fired a webline at the billboard and pulled as hard as I could. Naturally, the billboard yanked me downward and all that did was make me fall faster. I needed to try another approach. I tried as hard as I could to plant my feet onto the side of the building and get into a sprint. Balancing myself as only I could, I ran down the building as fast as my legs would let me, eventually gaining on the billboard and, after a couple of seconds, actually running past it. I fired a web in a wide arc to the building across the street. Once it connected, I sprayed more webbing to the building I was running on, attaching the two webs and forming a large net. I sprayed more webbing to my left and right, attaching them to whatever fixtures looked sturdy enough to hold them and forming support webbing to reinforce the net I had built. Connecting each part of the net, I then allowed myself to fall from the building and soar toward the net. I landed feet first in it and bounced back into the air.

Flying upwards, I ended up soaring right past the billboard. I applied more webbing to its top (well, actually the bottom, but it had flipped upside-down during the fall) then fired two more strands of webbing to a large crane that was about fifteen feet away. After having connected all three strands of that web, I shot one more web at the building behind me. Finally, I applied one more web to the billboard, and then attached all of the weblines, the result being that the billboard would have webbing on its top and underside, ensuring it wouldn't snap either web fixture. I clung to the billboard and silently prayed that my plan would work. After a few more seconds of anxious waiting, I felt the billboard jerk, bounce up and down for a few seconds, and then stay in place. I still held on for dear life, as I was actually unsure of what to do next and was afraid to do...well, anything. A little voice in my head offered a little advice on the matter.

_Open your eyes, fool!_

Following my brain's orders, I did so. And what I saw shocked me beyond belief.

It worked. Both web fixtures were successful in stopping the billboard. It was suspended about twenty feet off of the ground, above an enthralled crowd of spectators that were only seconds away from being flattened. I did it. I saved the day.

I would have to save the Kool-Aid and cheese doodles for later. I had a Goblin to catch.

I jumped off of the billboard and started to swing in the direction I saw the Goblin running in. Gaining altitude, I saw that the police chopper was still following the Goblin. I started to wonder if they had just assumed I would save the people, or if they didn't give a damn either way. Whatever the reason, I pressed on and continued chasing him.

Apparently, the Goblin was tired of running. I caught him bouncing back and forth between buildings, rising higher and higher until he finally was at eye level with the chopper. He leapt from one building and flew toward the helicopter. The chopper started to careen to the side as the huge green creature grabbed onto its front. I rushed to catch up to them, but it was too late.

The Green Goblin let out an inhuman roar, and the next thing I knew, sparks were literally flying. The Goblin charged up electricity in his arms and then began to run it through the helicopter. The chopper started to spin in circles and fell toward the building the Goblin had just jumped off of. He released the chopper and fell to another building.

I only had a few seconds. I released the webline I had been swinging from and landed on the side of the helicopter. With a tug, I ripped the pilot's side door away and tossed it aside. The pilot looked like he had just seen a ghost. I yanked him out of the chopper and scurried to the other side of it with him tucked under my right arm. Ripping off the other door, I grabbed his passenger with my other arm, then jumped away from the helicopter. As the three of us began to freefall, I heard and felt the impact of the helicopter crashing into the building behind me, which was followed seconds later by a massive explosion. The heat and noise were intense, not to mention the flying glass from the shattered windows that was embedding itself into my back. I planted my feet on the roof of a nearby building and let the two cops go.

My body had taken entirely too much punishment during this whole ordeal. I dropped to my hands and knees and found myself shaking. After a few seconds, my teeth stopped rattling and I was finally able to open my eyes again. I slowly stood back up and saw both of the cops staring at me in shock.

"You...you saved our lives..." said one of the cops.

I wanted to reply with a smartass comment. Or maybe even punch him in the mouth. But I had to get into that building and make sure there wasn't anybody trapped inside.

"I don't have time for this shit..." I muttered as I walked to the edge of the building.

I fired two zip-lines, pulled back as hard as I could, and then let them slingshot me into the air. Once I was close enough to the burning building, I began to swing toward it, raising higher until I reached the point of impact. Flames were already bursting out of the building and spreading throughout the floors directly above and below where the helicopter crashed. I crawled along the building and hopped in through one of the few nearby windows that weren't engulfed with fire. Looking around, I saw several panicked people running past me and toward the fire exits. I hadn't realized until I entered that this was a high-rise apartment building. Given the time, I had hoped it was an office building as everyone would probably have gone home already, but no such luck. I jumped to the ceiling and scurried along, looking for anyone who may have been trapped.

Turning the corner, I saw a young woman trapped behind a wall of flame. She was holding something small in her arms that was wrapped in a blanket. She looked up at me and jumped. It was at that point that I realized what she was holding: a baby.

"Oh God! God, please help me! I don't want to die!" she cried as she crouched into the corner.

"I'm here to help you!" I said to her, and I dropped from the ceiling in front of her. "Trust me. You and your baby are going to be safe."

I extended a hand to the woman. She looked up at me and stared for a moment, looking unsure what to do. After a moment's hesitation, she took my hand.

"Thank...thank you..." she said sheepishly.

"Just hold your breath, and hold onto your baby tightly. I'm gonna try and carry you outta here."

Holding her as gently as I could, I scooped the woman up in my arms and proceeded to walk sideways along the wall. Once I was high enough, I jumped back over the wall of flame and proceeded to run down the hallway. I turned back around the corner and ran to the fire exit, then put the woman down.

"There you are. Move quickly downstairs," I said as I turned away from the exit. At that moment, I felt the woman grab my arm.

"Wait...I'm sorry for the way I reacted back there...thank you, Spider-Man. You're a true hero."

I paused for a moment, staring at the woman and searching for any signs of insincerity. There were none. She was truly grateful to me. It was...a different experience than what I was accustomed to. I would have liked to thank her, but I had to get moving. There had to be more people in the building that needed saving. I simply nodded at her, then ran back around the corner and began to search apartments.

I would spend the next ten minutes doing this. I would run into apartments, grabbing whoever I could find and running them to the emergency exits, and trying to do so before either the smoke or the flames completely engulfed the building. The sprinkler system had activated before I even entered the building, thankfully, and was helping to quell the smoke and fire somewhat. But this was still a massive fire, and I had to get to everyone that I could. I found men and women, children, elderly and disabled people, all of whom I was able to get to safety.

Rescuing the people on the floors above the point of impact proved to be much more difficult, as sending them to the emergency exits wasn't an option. I would have to gather them all together and lower them en masse to the ground in a makeshift web elevator (which, for the record, was a quickly thrown together piece of shit and I will never, ever try that again). I wasn't even sure how many people I had gotten out of there. Maybe twenty or thirty. After having lowered them all to the ground, I made one last trip to the top floor to make sure I had rescued everyone that I could.

Running through the halls, I looked into each apartment I passed, and as far as I could tell, they were all emptied. I tried to see if I could focus my Spider-Sense to pinpoint any more people in the building, but with the flames swarming around me, it was flaring in all directions and it was hard to focus on anything in particular. Add to that the fact that it was incredibly hard to breathe, let alone see anything, and the search was beginning to seem fruitless.

I kept running just in case. I was determined to search every inch of the floor. Finally I stopped running when I felt something peculiar. Something was drawing me to an apartment to the left. It had to be my Spider-Sense. I figured it was telling me that there was someone left inside. I ran to the apartment and turned the knob on the door, but it was locked.

"Is anyone in there?" I yelled.

Nobody answered me. It could have been that whoever was inside was unconscious...or worse.

"Stand back! I'm gonna kick down the door!" I yelled.

I took a step back and prepared to kick at the door. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get my chance. Something burst through the door, but it wasn't my foot. Something knocked the door down from the inside and rushed into me like a bull. Whatever it was hit me hard in the stomach, grabbed me, and forced me into, and then through, the wall behind me. I found myself freefalling back outside of the building. My already blurry vision began to focus, and I recognized instantly who it was.

Oh surprise, surprise...

"Heroic fool!" the Goblin spat at me. "This is the price you pay for trying to save these insignificant worms! Lungs full of smoke and a sound beating at the hands of your superior!"

The Goblin had me in a tight bearhug. I tried to raise my hands to hit him, but his grip was too strong. The street seemed to be coming up at us with the speed of an oncoming train. I looked around for something, anything, that could help. Looking past him, I saw that we were almost directly in front of the large ball of flame that had once been the police helicopter. I managed to spin two weblines and hit the building with them. We found ourselves swinging in an arc back toward the building we had just fallen from. The Goblin looked over his shoulder and back at the flames. I think I actually heard him gasp. It made me smile a little under my mask.

"You damned fool!" he yelled at me.

"Yeah," I said as we flew right into the fireball. "I get that a lot..."

What followed next was a world of hurt. Pain came from every direction. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe. All I knew was the intense heat and the deafening roar of the flames. Fire licked at my body from all angles. Smoke filled my mouth and nostrils. My eyes were blasted by a montage of intense light and blinding darkness. By all accounts, I should have been dead.

But I didn't care. Neither did he. We were too busy trying to kill each other.

In actuality, we had only been in the fireball for about two seconds. During the course of those two seconds, we were doing nothing but trading punches. We ended up rolling back out of the flames, through the hallway, and back out of another window on the other side of the building. The two of us were still on fire as we fell back outside. And that still didn't stop us from trading punches on the way down. We both hit each other with everything we had before finally grabbing one another by the throat as we continued to fall. Eventually we both crashed into the roof of a nearby building and found ourselves finally releasing our mutual stranglehold.

After all of this, we both ended up laying on the rooftop, panting heavily and unable to move. I tried to raise my hand or turn my head, but none of my body parts seemed to want to respond. I had been pushed to my limit. My body had become completely numb. Tiny embers were still burning on what was left of my suit. I was fairly certain there was some internal bleeding somewhere, not to mention the huge gash on my chest and the dozens of other cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over my body. To make matters worse, I wasn't sure whether or not the Goblin could move either.

Was this how it was all going to end? Would this be the end of Spider-Man? Did I put on that stupid costume just to end up dead on some rooftop, laying next to a creature that looked like Shrek on steroids, with some unnecessarily bright light shining in my eyes?

What the...? Bright light?

That's right. The next thing I knew, I found light looming over me, filling the night sky as it came closer and closer. The first reaction I had was that I was dying and that it must be Heaven that I was seeing. The second reaction, sadly enough, was shock at the prospect that I might have actually made it into Heaven. The third reaction, sadder still, is that I would finally get to meet Tupac...

Naturally, none of this actually came to pass.

Before I knew it, the light was gone. I lay there blinking in an attempt to get my eyes to focus again. After a few seconds, I was able to see again. Upon opening my eyes again, I realized that the light was coming from yet another helicopter...or at least, I thought it was a helicopter. It was floating in the air, that was for sure. But I didn't hear any propellers or anything. In fact, it wasn't making a sound. It was just...there. As I stared at the strange vehicle in the sky and wondered what was going on, my Spider-Sense started to buzz lightly. Next thing I knew, two guys stepped into view and stared down at me. One of them had on a trenchcoat, suit and tie, and black sunglasses. The other was a younger bald guy in a green and black bird suit, complete with wings under the arms.

...the hell?

"What a friggin' mess..." the guy in the trenchcoat said.

"Well, we need to get this cleaned up quickly. They'll be pissed if the media sees us up here," said the guy in the bird suit. "So do we just retrieve Osborn, or do they want us to get rid of Spider-Man while we're at it?"

"Spider-Man's the whole reason Osborn went on this little rampage. We take him out, there's one less distraction for us to worry about," replied the guy in the trenchcoat as he drew a gun from his coat.

"It's just as well. What the hell was he thinking going out in public in that ridiculous getup?"

"Says the man in the bird suit..."

"This suit is a work of art! Hydra wouldn't have hired me if they didn't think so!"

"Heh...whatever you say, Vulchy. Wanna go to the bar after this?" asked the guy in the coat as he cocked the gun and aimed at my head.

"Sounds like a plan. I could go for a drink or two," the guy in the bird suit said as he glanced back at the Green Goblin. "Osborn, you awake over there? Playtime's over, man. It's time to head back to base."

"Don't...don't interfere..." said the Goblin as he slowly stood back up and walked over toward us. "He's mine...and mine alone..."

"You're developing quite an unhealthy fixation with this kid, Osborn," said the man with the gun. "Hydra recruited you for a reason, or have you forgotten so soon? We can't trust you not to pull another stupid stunt like this as long as he's still alive."

"I don't answer to you. Any of you. Now stand aside," said the Goblin as he palmed my head like a basketball and lifted me into the air.

"Well, if you're gonna kill him, make it quick, willya? We'd like to get off this roof before we end up on the evening news," said the birdman.

"I suppose that can be arranged..." the Goblin said as he flashed a devilish grin. "Goodbye, Spider-Man. I must rescind my earlier comments. You actually did exceed my expectations..."

Well, this was it. I didn't have enough strength to fight back with. I don't even think I had the willpower. I didn't feel like fighting anymore. With barely enough strength to keep my eyes open, I watched as the Goblin's arm started to spark up. As strange as all of this was, I could have sworn I saw someone floating in the air behind him. In the distance, I could barely make out something red and gold with its arm extended toward us. I figured maybe I was just delusional from the severe beating I had just taken. Yeah, that's what it was. I was just imagining it.

Just like I was just imagining the blue laser beam that shot through the air and struck the Goblin in the back, sending him flying away and leaving me to fall back to the roof. I landed in a heap on the roof and rolled onto my back. Surely enough, what I saw was a red and gold guy, who was floating in the air toward me. He landed about a foot away from me and held his still-glowing right hand toward the Goblin. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the red and gold was actually some sort of armor.

"Stand down, Osborn," the guy in armor said. When he spoke, there was a sort of electronic sound to his voice, almost as if he were speaking through a microphone. "That goes for the rest of you, too. SHIELD has declared this area under its jurisdiction. You have exactly one-fifth of a second to get out of here before you're placed under arrest."

"What gives you the right to..." the guy in the trenchcoat started.

"Oops, time's up," said the guy in the armor.

"You know something, Iron Man? I'm sick of your bullshit! I've been wanting to take you down for a long time!" said the guy in the coat as he raised his gun.

"Now you know that's not going to work," the guy called Iron Man said with a chuckle.

"We'll see! All I need is one good shot to...AAH!"

The "AAH!" in question was the result of something long, like an arrow or something, knocking the guy's gun out of his hand. He grabbed his hand, and then looked up at whoever fired the arrow. As I was barely able to turn my head, I could just make out another guy standing behind Iron Man. He sported a blonde buzzcut, and was dressed in a black and purple leather bodysuit, which covered pretty much everything but his head and arms. He also had on some black forearm-length gloves and black sunglasses, as well as combat boots. In his right hand was a big...I mean, really, really big, crossbow.

"The next one goes in your face, asshole," he said to the guy in the trenchcoat.

Man, I gotta start learning these guys' names...

"Hawkeye!" exclaimed the birdman. "Haven't I seen enough of you for one lifetime? This is a simple mission, alright? It's got nothing to do with you! And we haven't committed any crime!"

"But your buddy there did," the Hawkeye guy said as he nodded toward Osborn. "And you were about to kill the kid in the spider costume just now. The big guy says we gotta take you in for that."

"Enough of this! I knew I shouldn't have accepted this gig! I'm outta here!" said the birdman as he flew...you read that right, _flew_ away.

Suddenly I heard another, as yet unseen voice, demand the guy in the bird suit to, "Stay right where you are, Vulture!" And as I heard this, I watched as a discus-shaped object flew through the air and struck the Vulture right in his jaw. Seconds later, he fell back to the roof and crashed into it back-first. The disc-thing bounced off of his chin and went right back where it came. Seconds later, another player in this very strange game stepped forward. He was the guy that threw the disc or shield or whatever the hell it was. The first thing I noticed was the humongous white star that was plastered on the front of the shield, with red, white, and blue stripes encircling it. Then I noticed the outfit that the guy had on. He had a blue helmet/mask, with a blue tunic with red and white stripes at the bottom, as well as a white star on the chest. He also had a red belt, complete with grenades and a sidearm attached to it. Completing the outfit was a pair of blue pants and red combat boots.

I was officially lost...

"I believe you heard my colleagues a second ago. It's time to stand down, gentlemen," said America Man. I'm not sure that's actually his name. I'm just gonna call him that until I get some confirmation. "By orders of General Fury, you are to surrender immediately and come with us."

"Oh great, the gang's all here! Even the great Captain America has graced us with his presence! Aren't you afraid your whole covert operation will be blown? You're not even supposed to make yourselves known to the public! We all have the same goals here!" said the guy in the coat.

"Actually, we were just waiting for the licensing deal on our action figures to go through. Hence the costumes. We were gonna make an appearance on Good Morning America next Tuesday," said Iron Man. "The chestplate on my figure glows and everything."

"Heh...at least your toy is cool. They said the crossbow accessory was too violent for mine. They gave it a wimpy little bow and arrow and a damn Robin Hood mask," said Hawkeye.

"Sucks to be you," replied Iron Man.

Why don't I get an action figure?

"Getting back to the point," said an exasperated Captain America, "Osborn is guilty of multiple counts of murder, as well as attempted murder, several counts of assault and battery, kidnapping charges, two counts of arson, and a whole truckload of property damage charges. We suggest you come along quietly. We _hope_ you kick up a fuss so we can beat you down."

"That goes double for me," said yet _another_ voice I did not recognize. Next thing I knew, an older white guy in fatigues and an eye patch stepped into view. He was busy chomping on a huge cigar.

"It's your call, General Fury," said Captain America. "Take them in by force, or take them in by _extreme_ force?"

"You know the rules, Fury! Both SHIELD and Hydra declared that one organization can't interfere with the operations of another! Not since the Incident!" said the guy in the coat.

"Don't preach to me about the Incident, shit-for-brains! I was there! And, last I checked, having your pal take churchgoers hostage, on top of all that other crap he's done tonight, does not qualify as a legitimate Hydra operation!" bellowed the man called Fury.

"Fury, I've had just about enough of you..."

"And I've had enough of pop music and pay toilets, but they still exist, goddamnit," said Fury. "Why are you in disguise, anyway? We all know it's you, Chameleon."

"Always the know-it-all, aren't you, Fury? Well, I'm sure you knew about this, too," said the guy called Chameleon as he drew a rolled up piece of paper from his coat. He tossed it to Fury, who removed the rubber band upon catching it and read the paper.

"What's it say, General?" asked Captain America.

Fury scanned the paper for a few seconds before grimacing and ripping it to shreds.

"Damn it to hell..." he cursed.

"Don't worry, Nick old boy. We have copies of it," said Chameleon with a smirk.

"We can't touch 'em," said Fury. "If we do, they'll expose our part in the Incident."

"So what exactly do we do?" asked Hawkeye.

"We go home is what we do," replied Fury.

"And what about Osborn? He has to be held accountable for all that he's done tonight!" said Iron Man.

"Think again," said Vulture as he finally stood back up. "Osborn's one of our operatives. He comes with us."

The Green Goblin stepped back into view and looked down at me. I still couldn't move, much less focus on him. He then looked back up at Fury.

"How long have you had this grudge against me, Fury? It's really quite unhealthy, you know," said the Goblin.

"Fuck you, Osborn!" Fury snapped. "You best get out of here before I forget this little truce of ours and put an adamantium bullet in your skull!"

"Come on, big guy," the Chameleon said to Osborn. "I think you caused enough trouble for one night."

I was in shock. They were actually going to let him go. I had no idea what this "Incident" was, or what truce was going on between who, but I did know that he was my mother's killer, and that he was climbing into that strange helicopter with the men called Chameleon and Vulture. I held a hand out toward him as the only gesture I could make in an attempt to stop him. He glanced back at me and grinned once more before getting onto the helicopter. In a matter of seconds, they were gone. My hand dropped, and I officially lost the last ounce of my strength.

"Kid, can you move?" asked Fury, though I could barely hear him.

"He don't look so good..." noted Hawkeye. Smart guy, that one.

"He may be in shock. Hold on," said Captain America. He touched a small red button on the side of his helmet. "Jan, it's not looking very good out here. We need one of those med patches you cooked up."

"I was hoping it wouldn't get this nasty..." said Fury. "Just try and stay awake, kid. Help's on the way."

That was easier said than done, but given the circumstances, I didn't have much of a choice. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but it was getting increasingly difficult to do so. I could have sworn I heard a little buzzing sound, and I started to wonder if that was to be expected when someone is dying. And then, just to make things even stranger than they already were, a little yellow light appeared in the air and started flying toward Captain America. The light started to expand a little as the seconds passed by.

"Tink...Tinkerbell...?" I asked in a delusional haze.

The light expanded into the size and shape of a human, and after a brief flash, it actually _was_ a human. A woman, to be exact. She had short brown hair and a black bodysuit not unlike Hawkeye's.

"No, not Tinkerbell. It's Wasp, thank you very much," she said with something of an attitude. "The glowing is just an unintended side effect of the growing process. Given a few more months' time, I'm sure I can rectify it if only..."

"Scientist lady," Fury interjected. "The kid's dying here."

"Right, sorry," said the Wasp as she knelt at my side. She produced a small white patch. "Spider-Man, this is going to sting at first, but it will help your metabolism stabilize and eventually provide the necessary..."

"You're doing it again," said Fury.

"...it'll help you heal quickly. Here goes."

I lay still as she placed the patch on the exposed part of my chest, right in the center of the gash that had been made by the sword earlier. Surely enough, it did sting...pretty damn badly I might add...but at least I felt something. My heart seemed to be skipping a lot faster for a few seconds, but it went back to normal before long and I was finally able to breathe without the extreme amount of pain that came with it. That's not to say that it didn't still hurt, it just didn't hurt as much as before.

"It's done," said the Wasp as she stood up and turned toward Fury.

"Good," said Fury. "Kid, you'll be all better in about a day. Two days, tops."

Just then, Captain America stepped forward and extended a hand.

"Can you stand, son?" he asked me. I took his hand, and he helped me to my feet.

"I feel like shit..." I said to nobody in particular.

"You look like it, if that makes you feel any better," said Hawkeye.

"Nobody ever said the patch was perfect," said Fury. "We only use it for serious emergencies. Situations where your body may not heal on its own. It's designed to heal you until you're well enough for your body to take over. It ain't a friggin' Fountain of Youth. If it was, I'd still have this eye." He pointed at his eye patch as he said this.

"I'm not saying I'm not grateful," I replied, "I'm just saying that, y'know, I feel like I just got my ass kicked by a big, green goblin."

"You did a great job containing the situation, in any case," said Iron Man. "Good job, kid."

"Yeah," I said, staring at the burning building across the street. "I really knocked this one out the park."

"You got out all the civilians that were in immediate danger," said Fury. "And we got a bunch of guys in there right now evacuating what's left of the building. There were a few casualties from the initial crash and explosion, but there would have been a hell of a lot more if not for you. It may not feel like it, but you did good. You gotta look at the big picture..."

"If we were looking at the big picture, that murderer wouldn't be getting away right now!" I replied.

"Hey, we feel for ya, kid, but..." Hawkeye started to say.

"First of all, my name isn't 'kid'! And secondly, you have no idea what that monster did!" I exclaimed.

"He killed your mother," replied Fury.

I found myself staring at Fury in stunned silence. He took a step toward me.

"We know about your mom. And we know about you, Jordan."

"How...how did you know?"

"A guy starts running around the city in a costume, bustin' heads left and right. I make it my business to know all about it."

"So, what, I'm under arrest?"

"We were on the fence on that one for awhile. After all, you _have_ killed a man or two..." said Fury. "But hell, I have too. And given the circumstances, I for one couldn't really blame you. If the U.S. Government was aware of what I'm aware of, then yes, you would be sent to prison. But we know you're trying to do the right thing."

"And who exactly are you? Why is any of this a concern to you?"

"Can't say too much, Spider-Man. Let's just put it this way: There's a lot of shit that goes on in the world that you and pretty much every civilian on the planet are not aware of. It's our job to neutralize those situations, and to make sure that normal people never do find out about them."

"So you're FBI?"

"Not quite. We handle the cases that are too big even for them. The problem there is that there are some problems that aren't quite big enough to make so much as a blip on their radar. At the same time, these problems might be too big for the cops to handle. This is why, for the time being at least, we appreciate guys like you."

"Yeah, great...so you know about me, and you know about Osborn...I'm still lost on why you can't take him down."

"He's not just some mad scientist working out of an abandoned building anymore. Now he's a mad scientist working out of a shadow organization within our government. He got picked up by Hydra just before we could get to him. They gave him a real lab, funding, even test subjects. He's got everything he'd ever need or want."

"So because of some truce you called with these Hydra guys, he just gets to do whatever he wants?"

"In the simplest of terms, yes. But it goes a lot deeper than that."

"None of that matters! He killed my mom!"

"Yeah, we heard you the first fifty-six times. And believe me kid, if I could take him in for it, I would. But I can't. Best thing we can do is clean up his mess and hope Hydra keeps him under wraps."

I stared at the burning building in the distance and sighed. There was nothing I could do to bring Osborn to justice. This man that murdered my mother was still out there, and what was worse, he was collecting a big, fat, government-funded paycheck. Probably to create more freaks like me.

"So, what does this whole...I dunno what you call it...super team of yours have to do with this?" I asked.

"What you just got was a sneak preview of the team that I actually wasn't planning to debut until next week," said Fury. "We still can't decide on a name. Which did we settle on, guys? The Avengers or the Ultimates?"

"I like the Avengers, personally," said Captain America.

"Me too," agreed the Wasp.

"The Ultimates sounded good to me," said Iron Man.

"I thought we could go with The Hawkeye Experience," said Hawkeye.

"Come to think of it, I wonder if we ever confirmed that Thor would be joining the team..." Fury said as he rubbed his chin.

"Nevermind, sorry I asked," I said as I walked away.

"Hold on, kid," said Fury. "I'm not just telling you this for my health. You think I'd talk to just anyone about this? There was something I was considering asking you once I had gotten enough of an idea of your skills and motivations. Seems now's as good a time as any."

I paused and glanced back at him over my shoulder.

"What's that?"

"Well, you're eighteen, right?" asked Fury.

"Yeah..."

"Which means you're legally an adult. Which means you're old enough to work for the government."

"Yeah, so...?"

"What're you, dense? I'm asking if you want to join my team, numbskull."

I turned back to Fury and took a step toward him.

"You want me to join your team?" I asked.

"That's right."

"So you want me to join a group of brightly-dressed superpeople who can smile for the camera and sell action figures, who can have strange late-night meetings with monsters and bird people on rooftops, but who don't actually arrest criminals because odds are they have some weird truce going on with those same criminals' bosses. Geeletmethinkaboutitno."

With that, I took a step toward the edge of the building.

"Suit yourself, kid. We'll be in touch," said Fury.

I glanced back at Fury and his group one more time. As I watched them, I noticed a strange aura surrounding all of them. A brief flash of light later, and they were all gone. Like something out of Star Trek. I had officially had enough of the weirdness for one day. Turning back toward the edge of the rooftop, I fired a webline to a nearby building and began the long swing home.

Under normal circumstances, I may have gone to Tiffany's first. Given the events of the evening, she was probably worried sick about me. Even still, I was way too tired for that, and I had to get home anyway. It was getting late, and despite the severe physical, mental, and emotional beating I had just taken, I needed to be at school the next day. I would see Tiffany the next day at school and assure her that I was alive and something resembling well.

Webswinging hurt like hell, by the way. Every muscle was on fire. My vision was still a bit blurry, there was a ringing in my ears, and even firing the weblines began to hurt after a few minutes. That patch, whatever it was, had certainly saved my life, but it didn't necessarily make the pain go away. I had hoped that a good night's sleep would solve that problem. Of course, that still didn't solve the problem of getting my costume repaired. Tiffany would kill me for getting it torn again. Well, "torn" is an understatement. "Fucked up" would be a more accurate description. There were holes in the gloves, the left sleeve had been completely torn off, the pants were torn in various places, and there wasn't a spider symbol to speak of on either side of the costume. Not to mention the burn marks all over the thing.

_At least the mask is still intact,_ I thought to myself as I maneuvered ever so gingerly through the air. After all, I did still have a secret identity to maintain. Or at least what was left of it. Whoever this Fury guy was, he knew my secret. Knew too much, to be honest. It seemed like he was on my side, but that offered me little comfort, especially given everything that had gone on that night. At least I wouldn't have to worry about him blabbing to the newspapers about who Spider-Man really is. The last thing I needed after this long and agonizing night was for my secret to get out.

After seemingly forever, I finally made it home. Moving with the last few ounces of my strength, I slid open the window that I had left cracked and slipped inside. I didn't know whether I wanted to shower first, or just crash on the bed and wake up in about seven years. It dawned upon me that I should probably go to the bathroom. Maybe get a little snack. Definitely call Tiffany. Angel too. I had a lot to figure out, but at least none of these problems were life-shattering. For the moment, I didn't have anything _too_ important to worry about.

I took off my mask and stood still, barely conscious, illuminated only by the moonlight that seeped through my window. As I let out a sigh of both relief and exhaustion, I heard a voice from the other side of the room.

"Rob?" It was my dad.

My mask dropped to the floor.

"Oh, shit..." was the only response my brain would register.

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN


	20. A Serious Talk

CHAPTER TWENTY: A Serious Talk

"Uh...Dad, listen..."

My father flipped on the light switch before I could dispense with the bullshit excuse as to why I was just climbing into my room in the middle of the night in a torn up Spider-Man costume. My first thought was that I could possibly get lucky and he wouldn't have seen my costume in the darkness. Then I could convince him that I was just a weirdo with a penchant for climbing in and out of my own window. Well, so much for that plan...

We found ourselves staring at each other in awkward silence for a few moments, though it felt like hours. His eyes trailed downward toward my boots, and slowly moved upward while taking in the costume, or at least what was left of it. Finally he made eye contact with me again, though he didn't say a word. He just stood there with his jaw agape, probably in an attempt to make some sense of the situation. The silence was killing me. At least if he were yelling at me, I'd be able to gauge his emotions somehow. I figured the best way to break the ice was to state the obvious.

"Dad," I said, "I'm Spider-Man."

The plan didn't work. He still didn't say anything.

"I've been Spider-Man for a few months now,' I continued. "I mean, I took a break for a little while, but then I started putting the costume back on and..."

"Did you kill your mother?" he asked me, his voice monotone.

"No! I swear, Dad, it wasn't me! I was trying to save her!" I took a step toward him, but he took a step away and accidently bumped into the wall behind him.

"Just stay back!" he yelled. This time his voice was booming.

"Dad, I know what you've been hearing in the news and reading in the papers, but trust me, I did not kill her..."

I shouldn't have been shocked that this would be his reaction. The media made it seem as though Spider-Man was responsible for my mother's death. There's no reason why he shouldn't believe this was so. It would also explain why he was so upset to hear Aaron and I arguing about it.

"You...you're Spider-Man..." he said.

"Yes."

"And you're telling me it's not true what they said. That Spider-Man killed Rhonda?"

"It's not true."

"How do you expect me to believe that?" he asked, though with the inflection in his voice, it sounded more like he was just yelling it and not necessarily asking it. "So what is it that you do? You just put on this costume and run around fighting people? And then you tell me that this Spider-Man...why am I talking about him like he's a different person? You're telling me that you aren't the one responsible for Rhonda's death after I've been told for months that you are and I'm supposed to just believe it?"

"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean for you to find out like this..."

"How then, Rob? Was I supposed to turn on the news and find out that the police shot you down in your costume? Was I supposed to read the paper tomorrow morning and see that you were killed by that maniac at the church tonight?"

"You know about the church?"

"Of course I know. The choir director, Sister Jennings, she called me and told me to turn to the news. She was one of the hostages that he had allowed to leave. The next thing I know, they say that he's demanding for Spider-Man to show up. I come upstairs to tell you what's going on, and you're not here! Can you imagine how scared I was, Rob? The last thing I knew, you had gone to bed. How was I supposed to react to that?"

"You're right, Dad," I said as I stared at the floor. "Tiffany called me and told me what was going on. I went down to the church to handle the situation..."

"And then the church was burned down!"

"Um...yeah. A fire was started while we were fighting..."

"And who was this person, anyway? Who was this man who wanted to meet you so badly? And was it just a coincidence that he happened to know what church you go to? Does he know who you are?"

"No, it's not a coincidence. He does know who I am..." I replied as I felt my stomach start to churn at the thought of it.

"Well, who is he?"

"His name is Norman Osborn," I said. "He's the one who made me into...into this."

There was an awkward pause. I took a deep breath, and decided to tell him everything right there.

"He's the one that killed Mom..." I said.

"Why? What had your mother ever done to him to make him want to kill her?" he asked.

"Nothing. She didn't do a thing...except try to apologize to me. He killed her because of me. This guy is beyond sick, Dad. And he did something to himself...turned himself into this creature. That's what I was fighting at the church tonight."

"Enough," he said as he turned away. "I've heard enough."

"Dad, you gotta believe me..."

"I don't want to!" he turned and screamed in my face. "I don't want to believe that any of this nonsense is supposed to be a part of normal, everyday life! Vigilantes and murderers and creatures...none of this makes any sense! I don't believe a word of it! You are _not_ Spider-Man! No creature killed Rhonda! I refuse to believe this!"

He began to storm toward the door. I had to force him to get a grasp on all of this, as terrible as it made me feel. Reacting impulsively, I fired a web at the door, which slammed it shut and held it tight. He stopped and stared at the door in shock. He took a step back and turned to me, his expression begging for an explanation.

"Dad, I _need_ you to believe this. Just hear me out. Please," I pleaded with him.

After a moment's hesitation, he took a seat on my bed. I slumped against the wall and ended up sliding downwards into a sitting position. I looked down and noticed my mask laying on the floor beside me. I picked it up and stared into its eyes.

"I agree, Dad. This is crazy. About as crazy as it gets," I said. "Some of what they say in the media is true. Most of the rumors about my abilities are true. Some are complete bull."

"Like what?" he asked. He was noticeably making an attempt to calm down.

"Well, I can climb walls, shoot webbing, I have what you would call 'super strength', I'm really flexible and faster than the average man...all those things they said were true. A lot of what they said was not true."

"Such as?"

"Well, for one thing, I can promise you that I do not eat people! I dunno who came up with that rumor but I oughta sue 'em!" I took a deep breath before continuing. "Also, I do not lay eggs. And I am not trying to buy out the Eagles and have their name changed to the Philadelphia Spiders."

"I'm not worried about all of that, Rob," he said. "I mean, I am, but what's more important is...why? Why do you do any of this?"

"Because..." I stared at my mask and thought long and hard about my response. "Because of power and responsibility. That's why I asked you about it. At first, I just did this as an impulse. I had powers, I figured it was something I could do. But the motivation wasn't really there. Until you and I had that talk. After that, I realized what I had gotten myself into. I knew I was in this for the long haul. This is something that I have to do, Dad."

There was another pause between us. I had expected him to yell at me some more, but maybe he was finally starting to understand. He cleared his throat and then looked up at me.

"Who else knows?" he asked.

"Tiffany knows. So does her mom. I haven't told Angel or Brian yet." I paused and gave it some thought. "Also, this guy named Nick Fury knows, but as far as I can tell, he's on my side."

"Who is he?"

"Some kind of government super-weirdo. Keeps tabs on the whole country, I think. Like some kind of National Security Agency on steroids."

We found ourselves sitting in silence once again. This was obviously a lot to take in, and I was disappointed that it didn't go as smoothly as the time I told Tiffany about all of this. I cleared my throat, cracked my knuckles, did anything to pass the seconds by. Eventually he spoke up.

"You're hurt," he said.

"Yeah, sorta..." I said as I rubbed my shoulder, which was still sore. Though, considering the beating I had taken, I'd say a sore shoulder was a blessing. "I'll live, though."

"So this...creature you say you fought...did you beat it?"

"Not exactly. It's...a very long, complicated story," I took a deep breath, leaned my head back against the wall, and closed my eyes. "Truth be told, this is probably the toughest fight I've been in since I became Spider-Man. And this is coming from a guy who fought a man-sized lizard."

"...what?"

"Everybody reacts that way when I tell them that..." I said with a chuckle.

"Son, I'm still having trouble getting a grasp on all of this. This is...a lot to take in..."

"Can't say that I blame you, Dad."

"I don't understand why you feel you need to do this. What makes this your responsibility? It can't just be because you have these...abilities."

"Well," I opened my eyes and looked at him. "It's hard to put into words. Maybe I want to make sure our family's legacy is a good one. Keep up your good example, ya know? I mean, you're a civil rights officer. You defend people you don't even know, just because you can. That's something to be proud of. But then you look at the other members of our family...one was a drug addict, and one _sold_ drugs. I guess...I want to balance things out. I have the ability to help people, so there's no reason why I shouldn't try."

"I...I can understand that, Rob," he said as he stood up and walked toward me. I stood up as well.

"I'm sorry you found out this way, Dad," I said.

"Robert," he said, and he put a hand on my shoulder. "You're a good son. I'm glad you turned out the way you did. I don't know if you know how very proud of you I am."

_Wow. I think we just had a Moment. This feels so Cosby Show,_ I thought.

"Thanks, Dad," was all I could say.

"We'll discuss this tomorrow. Today has been very long, and I think we both need to get a good night's sleep before we can speak seriously about the situation," he said.

I responded with a nod, and he nodded back. He took a step back toward my door, but paused when he saw the giant spider web that was still holding the door shut. I guess he forgot it was there.

"Rob..."

"Yes, Dad?"

"Get this off the door or you're grounded."

"Yes, Dad."

I walked past him and tore the webbing off of the door. He patted me on the shoulder as he exited my room.

"Goodnight, son," he said.

"Goodnight, Dad," I replied.

With that, I closed the door and collapsed onto my bed. He was right: it was a long day. Longest day of my life, truth be told. And I had entirely too much to think about. I didn't look forward to having the talk with him in the morning, but at least the ice had been broken. For the moment, I just wanted to get a good night's sleep. It occurred to me that there was still school the next morning, and knowing him, he'd make me go anyway. Being a superhero would not be an excuse for skipping school, in his eyes. I wasn't even worried about taking a shower or taking off the costume, at this point. I just shut my eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

And then the phone rang.

"Goddamnit!" I yelled as I jumped out of the bed. I do mean "jumped" literally. I was actually stuck to the ceiling as a result. Falling back to the floor, I picked up the phone.

_Who the hell would be calling me this late?_ I wondered.

"Hello?"

"Rob, oh my God! Are you alright? What happened? I thought you were killed!" It was Tiffany, and she was talking very, very fast.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Tif! Slow down!"

"Baby, are you okay?" she asked as she struggled to slow herself down.

"Yeah, I'm fine...ish."

"I'm sorry I'm calling so late. I've been watching the news this whole time, and you didn't call me so I thought something happened to you. I was gonna wait until tomorrow to see you at school, but I was too worried."

"It's cool, babe. I appreciate the concern."

"Is it true what they said? Did he really kill all those police officers?"

"Yeah, it's true," I shut my eyes and tried to shut out the mental image of him tearing through them.

"The last thing they said was that a helicopter crashed into a building, and then you both disappeared."

"It's a long story, Tif, and I promise I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. But right now there's an even bigger story."

"Bigger than this?"

"Yeah...my dad knows."

"Knows what?"

"He..._knows."_

I could hear Tiffany gasp into the phone.

"How...how did he take it?"

"He...uh...he took it. That's all I can really say."

"Rob, what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna go to sleep. That's all I can think to do at this point. There's entirely too much to tell you about. No way I'm gonna be able to tell it all in one night."

"Oh, okay..."

I was about to hang up, but then something hit me.

"Wait a minute..."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Tif. You said there was something you wanted to talk to me about, didn't you?"

"Oh, that...it can wait, Rob. You've been through a lot today."

"That's no excuse. I gotta stop making you take a backseat to this crap. You're my lady. You're Number One to me. I always got time for you."

"Rob, that's so sweet. And thoughtful. But this news is too big for tonight. I really think we should wait until tomorrow."

"Big news?" I asked. "Okay, now I'm really interested! C'mon, is it good news or bad news?"

"Um...depends..."

"Can't be any worse than everything that happened today. Besides, you obviously have been wanting to get this off your chest for a long time."

"It's not something I can just say over the phone..."

"Tell me, woman!"

"Rob, no!"

I was taken aback by that. I don't think I had ever heard so much force in her voice before. Whatever it was she wanted to talk about, it was damned serious.

"Tiffany...is it really that bad?"

She didn't reply. At first there was silence for a few seconds. But then I could hear a faint sound on the other end. She was crying.

"Tiffany, baby, talk to me," I said. I was starting to get worried. "Do you want me to come over? I'll swing right by."

"No, Rob...don't..." She began to cry even harder. "Just...just go to bed. I'll see you in school tomorrow. We can talk then..."

"No, Tiffany. Tell me what's wrong."

"Rob...you love me, right?"

"Of course I do. Why would you ask that?"

"I mean, no matter what...we both love each other..."

"Absolutely. There's nothing the two of us can't face together," I said.

"Rob, I love you so much...I wanted to tell you before but there was always something happening...and you were doing so much good for people, there was no way I could put all of this on you..."

"Tiffany," I said, trying as hard as I could to keep my voice calm and reassuring. "Just tell me."

"Rob..."

I could hear Tiffany trying to compose herself. She took a deep breath, paused, and then spoke. And no Spider-Sense could prepare me for what she said next.

"I'm pregnant..."

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY


	21. Dear Diary

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Dear Diary...

_From the desk of Tiffany Cameron..._

**Entry 1**

Dear Diary,

I know, it's been awhile since I wrote you. Things have been really hectic for the last few weeks. I'm getting ready for finals and the prom right now, plus the Senior Project and a lot of other stupid stuff they force us to do before we graduate. I have to pay a hundred dollars just to get the cap and gown! On top of that, Mom thinks I should get dressed up for graduation. What for? Nobody's going to see what I have on under the gown anyway! I oughta show up to graduation naked under that gown!

Aside from that, I've been spending a lot of time with Rob. I'm a little worried about him. He's been through a lot lately, but he's strong so I'm sure he can handle it. I just hope I can help him get through these hard times.

I think he's starting to get over his mom's death. He was really quiet for awhile after she died, but lately he's been acting more like his old self. He never really told me much about what happened, just that he watched her die and that he wished he could have saved her. I would try not to bring it up, but whenever anybody mentioned it, I could see just how sad it made him to think about it. I'm glad to see that he's making some progress.

But he won't put the costume back on. I'm not sure if he ever will again. If Rob decides he doesn't want to be Spider-Man anymore, I'm not gonna argue with him. I actually like it better this way. I don't have to spend every night worrying that someone's going to kill him. But even if he does decide to give it up, there's still something that bothers me about the situation. I think he liked being Spider-Man until that night. It's almost as if a part of him is dead now. I keep having this feeling that maybe being Spider-Man would make him feel better. Maybe I should say something. What do you think, diary?

**Entry 2**

Dear Diary,

I don't know how to explain the way I feel right now. I'm upset and I'm happy and I'm scared all at once and I don't know how to handle it.

I'm upset because I just heard the worst news possible: Rhino's back out of jail. They let him go and I don't even know why. They keep saying something about somebody called the Kingpin. I've been hearing rumors about him all my life, but I never knew if he was real. I honestly don't care. All I know is that Rhino killed my father, and he's walking the streets again. I want to scream. I want to explode. What I really want is to go find him myself and kill him the same way he killed Daddy.

But then something great happened: Rob put the costume back on! He said he was going to find Rhino, and that he became Spider-Man again for me. It was such a weird feeling. I was happy, but something felt wrong. It was almost like his heart wasn't in it. I'm glad he's putting the costume back on, but not if it's just for me. He never thinks about himself, and that scares me. Maybe he's got low self-esteem or something. But if he never thinks about himself, what if he stops caring while he's out there fighting people like Rhino? What if he just decides not to dodge that one bullet and somebody gets lucky and kills him?

Well, he came over a few hours ago. He says that he couldn't get Rhino arrested again and that he doesn't know what he can do. And to tell the truth, hearing that broke my heart. But I couldn't tell him that. He tried, and that's all I could ask. He had a few marks and bruises on him when he came over, but he didn't say anything about them. I don't think he likes to talk to me a lot about what goes on when he's out there. Well, at least not when he gets hurt. But knowing my boyfriend, it's probably that damn male pride thing.

So diary, here's the part you're going to like. We had sex again. I know, I know, I'm supposed to wait until I'm married! But we already did it once before. I figure I already threw the chastity thing out the window! That actually sounds kinda funny now that I read that out loud. You probably think I'm the world's biggest whore. Well, I hope you still love me as much as I love you, diary.

And yes, we used a condom!

**Entry 3**

Dear Diary...

I need money! Mainly because I need to buy a dress for the prom. I don't even know what color I should wear. Nothing in my closet is suitable for the prom, and every dress I looked at is WAY out of my price range. Mom still has her prom dress, and she and I are about the same size. Maybe I could wear hers. But then, that gigantic bow on the back of the dress is kinda outdated. And pink, orange, and turquoise isn't exactly a pretty color scheme. You think Rob would mind if I just showed up in jeans and a T Shirt?

In other news, I've been feeling kinda sick for the last few days. I don't know what's wrong with me. It's flu season, so maybe that's what it is. The good thing is that I didn't have to go to school for a few days. Not that it'll hurt my grade too much, anyway. My grades are decent, and school's almost over for the year. Still, I don't want to go to graduation with an upset stomach. I have an appointment with the doctor in a few days, but I really don't want to wait that long.

So I'm a little worried. I can admit that. And I have a thought on why I might be sick, but I don't really want to say or even write it because I don't want to jinx myself. But maybe I should get a test just to be sure. I can go to the store and get a test and come back here and know right now. I'm sure it's nothing. I just want to be sure. You know, to put my mind at ease. That's all I need to do. You'll see, diary. I have nothing to worry about.

**Entry 4**

I'm pregnant.

Diary, I'm pregnant. I just took the test. I can't believe it. I'm pregnant. I am carrying Rob's baby right now and I don't know what to do or how I'm going to tell him or how he's going to react.

I'm so scared. I don't even know how this could happen. Both times Rob and I had sex, we used condoms. We were safe. I mean, I know condoms aren't one-hundred percent guaranteed to prevent pregnancy, but it's still gotta be a one in a million chance that something like this could happen.

But there's no point in trying to argue about it. It says it right there. I'm having a baby. And I can't do it. I just can't. I can't be a mother. I have no idea how to take care of a baby. Rob and I don't even live together, we're not married, neither of us have jobs. And how am I supposed to tell Mom? She'll kill me! But then, maybe she'll understand. She was my age when she had me. Maybe she won't be so mad.

I have a hundred thoughts running through my head right now and I don't know what to do with any of them but write them down. Maybe I'll figure it out. God, I'm so scared right now.

Maybe I should have an abortion. It's the only thing I can do. Neither of us can take care of this baby. Maybe I shouldn't even tell Rob. I can get the money somehow and have an abortion and Rob never needs to know.

No, I can't do that. That's cruel. I have to at least tell him. Maybe we can work it out. Maybe we can both get jobs and find a way to support each other and everything will be alright. We're both strong, we're both smart, we can do this if we try hard enough. I'll tell him and we'll figure something out together.

When do I tell him? He's supposed to be visiting his brother right now. He and his brother haven't spoken in a long time, so I don't even know what kind of mood Rob will be in when he gets back. Maybe today isn't the right day to tell him. I can tell him tomorrow at school.

I just realized as I was writing this that Rob's never really had a family. I mean, aside from his dad. He would probably hate me for having an abortion. But what if he thought having a baby would ruin his life? What do I do?

I love Rob. I love him so much, but I have no idea how he's going to react, or how I'm going to be able to provide for a baby. I could put the baby up for adoption or something. I don't know. I don't want to be a bad mother, but I don't think I'm capable of being a good one. I know I'm rambling right now. This just doesn't make any sense to me. I've never been so scared in my entire life.

What am I going to do, diary? It's taking everything I have just to stay calm right now. Or maybe I'm in shock. I just have to talk to Rob, that's all. I hope this works out. I don't know what to do but tell Rob and hope for the best.

Pray for me, diary.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE


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